Yamato Gun IV: Fallen
by The Reanimated Raynor
Summary: The next chapter of Yamato Gun, this time mostly from Ami's point of view. [June 18] Split up the chapters and added an omake (bonus) section.
1. Going Under

Going Under  
  
"Blurring and Stirring the truth and the lies, so I don't know  
what's real and what's not..."  
  
The scene is the Crown Arcade. Makoto is waiting for Ami, who said she was going to be there at about 4:30.  
  
Makoto glanced at the clock on the wall as she sipped her drink. The time ticked over to 4:20. "She should be here any time soon..." She said to nobody in particular. "Speak of the devil... Hi, Ami!" she got up, drink in hand, and walked over to meet her blue-haired friend.  
  
"Hi, Makoto!" Ami said.  
  
"How's life treating you today?"  
  
"Same as usual... though it looks like it'll get worse, since it's forecasting rain-"  
  
"Hi, Mako-chan!"  
  
Both Ami and Makoto turned to see Ami walking through the doors of the arcade.  
  
Again.  
  
She walked over to the two and said "Hi, Ami, I didn't know you were going to be heee..." before realizing what she was saying and blinking in confusion. "That's me!"  
  
"That would be you. Although you look a lot like you too." Makoto said in confusion, still staring at the Ami that just walked in the door but motioning to the first Ami. "That's funny, I didn't remember ordering any Long Island with this Iced Tea." She glanced down into her glass.  
  
"I should hope I'm me. Have been all my life." The first Ami said.  
  
"Me too!" The second Ami said.  
  
"What's going on?!" Both Amis said at the same time.  
  
"Ok, ok, let's figure this out. Either of you remember meeting a mad scientist in your travels?"  
  
"No." Both Amis said.  
  
"Either of you remember attempting some kind of cloning device?"  
  
"No."  
  
"What about another alternate universe?" The second Ami suggested.  
  
"What?" Makoto said confusedly.  
  
"Like the DigiDestined. The other universes. Only this time it's the 'North American' version of Sailor Moon or something."  
  
"Uh, me? You're doing a great job of confusing the heck out of me."  
  
"Oh. So you're not a cloned me."  
  
"Not if you understood what you just said, no."  
  
"Alternate universes." Ami One said to Makoto before turning to Ami Two. "Apparently we're an anime show."  
  
"We are? When did this happen?"  
  
"Well, in both your and my universes it didn't. We're an anime show in every other alternate universe, as is Sakura and Tomoyo of Card Captor Sakura fame, the DigiDestined of Digimon and Raynor of the American PC game known as StarCraft."  
  
"Oh. So these are real people and real worlds?"  
  
"And they just happen to sync up with a completely fictional show or game in every universe they're not in. Weird, isn't it?"  
  
"Truly." Ami Two said before shaking her head, as if to get the cobwebs out.  
  
"You alright?"  
  
"Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine. I'm... just-just trying to get my head around this."  
  
"Ah. Well, now that we know what's happening, for the most part..." Makoto said, getting out her Senshi communicator. "...I'll page Raynor and we'll go from there." She said, pressing several buttons as she did.  
  
"Raynor got us back the last time, when me and Usagi were unceremoniously dumped into the StarCraft universe with no way of getting back." Ami One explained.  
  
"I see. Think he'll be able to help me?" Ami Two asked.  
  
"Definitely."  
  
"'Lo." Raynor answered from the communicator. "You've got horrible timing."  
  
"'Lo to you too. Why is that?"  
  
"I'm in the holodeck in a kind of R&R program I've had going for the better part of the last six months and over two ships. But no matter, just so long as it's warranted."  
  
"It's warranted, believe me. We've got a little paradox happening here."  
  
"Like?"  
  
"Like I'm looking at two Ami Mizunos."  
  
Raynor's image blinked. "You're kidding. Please tell me you're kidding."  
  
"No, I'm not."  
  
"Copies?"  
  
"No, only one knows of your universe. The original Ami and I figure some vortex deposited this one here or something."  
  
"Somehow I doubt that. The universe is a lot more ordered than it seems."  
  
"Protoss wisdom?"  
  
"Terran observation." Raynor replied with a grin. "Anyway, you and the Ami that doesn't belong come here, I'll page Zeratul, and hopefully we'll get this sorted out."  
  
"Will do. Be there in fifteen. Mako out."  
  
Makoto turned to the two Amis. "Alright then, Ami Two, come with me. We're going to go see Raynor, he can sort this-"  
  
Makoto's communicator blipped. "-Out." She finished flatly as she flipped it open. "Forget something, Raynor?"  
  
Rei appeared on the screen. "Do I look anything like Raynor?"  
  
"Sorry, I just talked with him. So what's up?"  
  
"You up for solving a little mystery?"  
  
"I've got one of my own at the moment."  
  
"Really? Is it as weird as a clone of both me and Venus?"  
  
"Actually, yes. I've got a Mercury clone here."  
  
"Greeeat." came the sarcastic reply. "Bring her here, Moon's got her own clone too and she's coming here."  
  
"Alright. What about my clone?"  
  
"We'll copy that bridge when we come to it. For the time being, we'll just try to figure out what's happening without the box set. Your girl know why she's there?"  
  
"No, and actually that's why I paged Raynor. He's expecting me and the clone Merc there. "  
  
"Oh. Well, come here anyway, we'll all go there from here... uh, Jupiter?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Your clone just walked up the steps of the shrine. So much for not having the box set."  
  
"Well, at least we don't have to go looking for me."  
  
"Yeah. I just hope there isn't anybody else cloned. Mars out."  
  
"What's this about clones?" Makoto Two said through the communicator before it cut out.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
Raynor looked at his watch. "She said she'd be here now. Although I suppose any number of things could happen with two of the same person walking beside you..." He said, mostly to himself, as the rest of the Conference Room was empty.  
  
A flash of light momentarily blinded him. Ah. There she is. Raynor thought. Though next time I should really remember some sunglasses.  
  
When the flash of light faded, the five Senshi and their clones stood in the conference room. "Are you people in meitosis or what?! I thought it was just Ami!" Raynor said when he noticed it wasn't just Makoto and Ami's clone standing there.  
  
"That was before I found out Usagi had her clone and Rei had the other three at the shrine." Ami One replied.  
  
"I see. So is there any way to differentiate you five from the clones?"  
  
"Well, Ami Two and Usagi Two don't have the eye thing..."  
  
"What eye thing?" Usagi Two asked.  
  
"Me and Ami have this coloring in our eyes. I have yellowish eyes and Ami, bluish ones." Usagi One replied.  
  
"But I never noticed anything."  
  
"We think only people who have the colored eyes can actually see it."  
  
"Anyway, Makoto Two's in the green dress." Makoto One said.  
  
"Rei Two's in her, my, whatever, shrine uniform." Rei One said.  
  
"And Minako Two has the sunglasses." Minako One said. "Nice ones, too. I've got great taste, don't I?" This made the rest of the Senshi, clone and Original, laugh.  
  
"Maybe you could recommend a pair to me the next time I have to be here when you DigiPort in. Any of the clones remember how they got to the Originals' universe?"  
  
"Nope." came the chorus from the five Clones.  
  
"Well, I guess if Zeratul has the programs set up we should be able to get you five back to your universe or universes without any trouble."  
  
"What programs?" Ami One asked.  
  
"Zeratul said he was going to make a Scanner subroutine that told us what universe the scanee was from, as well as a Transporter program that transported people a la DigiPorting to another universe, no D-3 required."  
  
At that point Zeratul walked in the door. "En Taro Adun, Raynor, Senshi... and copies. Raynor, did you not say there was only a second Ami?"  
  
"En Taro Adun." The Original Senshi and Raynor chorused. The clone senshi followed suit, stumbling over the unfamiliar syllables.  
  
"They found more." Raynor explained.  
  
"Ah. It is fortunate we have completed the programs, then."  
  
"Excellent! You've got the Scanner with the program on it?"  
  
Zeratul handed Raynor a Tricorder-like device. "More Star Trek references." Ami observed.  
  
"Science Fiction is often the basis for Science Fact." Raynor said, getting up and facing Minako Two. "This won't hurt a bit."  
  
Raynor pointed the Scanner at Minako Two, pressed a few buttons, and moved it in front of her from her head to the ground. "Ow!" Minako Two joked as the scan was being performed.  
  
The Scanner blipped when it had the results in. "...Says here Multiverse 20080514... Universe... 28090519420."  
  
He repeated this with the other four copy Senshi, which got the same result. "Well, that's simple enough to fix then. To the transporter room."  
  
The twelve of them walked out onto the bridge, then went to the Turbolift. "This thing only holds six people at a time, so how about me and the Clones go first, then Zeratul and the Senshi take the next one?"  
  
"That is fine." Zeratul replied.  
  
"Fine by us." Makoto One added.  
  
"Alright. Senshi Two, right this way."  
  
The five Clones walked forward and onto the Turbolift with Raynor. "Transporter room." Raynor said as the doors closed.  
  
"Just out of curiosity, how were you able to make a program for a Terran Scanner?" Ami asked. "I mean, wouldn't it be a different operating system and program language and, well, written language?"  
  
"You underestimate the technological advancement of the Protoss, young Ami." Zeratul replied. "We have created programs designed solely to convert and reverse-engineer program languages and OSs. If need be, we could incorporate the D3's function as DigiPort Link to your Senshi Communicator, as well as nearly anything else."  
  
"Well, you lost the rest of us at about 'technological advancement'," Rei said, "but don't worry about trying to explain it."  
  
"To put it at its most basic, we can manipulate computer programs very easily."  
  
"Oh." Rei, Usagi, and Makoto said.  
  
"So what's the name of the operating system you-ow-use?" Minako said before starting to blink rapidly and rub her eyes, along with Makoto and Rei.  
  
"Are you three alright?" Ami asked.  
  
"Yeah, I'm Ok..." Makoto said. "I just got something in my eye or... something."  
  
"Or your eyes are finally changing." Usagi said. "It was the same for Raynor."  
  
"But not you?"  
  
"Nope. Didn't feel a thing."  
  
"Not conciously, anyway." Ami added.  
  
"So do we have colored eyes now?" Rei asked, as she stopped blinking.  
  
"Yeah, yours are red... Makoto's are green, and Minako's are orange."  
  
"Cool." Minako said. "I just hope my parents don't notice."  
  
"My mom hasn't yet." Ami said. "I think only we DigiDestined can see it."  
  
"That explains it." Zeratul said.  
  
"Explains what?"  
  
"Why I have no idea what the five of you are talking about."  
  
"I thought you'd be a DigiDestined, seeing as you are like the leader of the Dark Templar now, and at least the most powerful," Rei said. "Strange."  
  
"Perhaps my time simply has yet to come."  
  
The turbolift doors opened again and the six stepped in. "So you could convert Mac programs into PC Programs?" Makoto asked.  
  
"Without a doubt."  
  
"He could also convert it into Protoss." Ami added.  
  
"Oh." Makoto said, sweatdropping and chuckling nervously. "That was kinda dumb of me, wasn't it?"  
  
"Just a little." Usagi said.  
  
"Have you been under many Psionic Storms lately?" Zeratul said, making the five Senshi laugh.  
  
"Well, that was unexpected." Ami said.  
  
"Am I not allowed to make jokes because I am Protoss?" Zeratul said in obvious mock anger. "We have senses of humour also, you know. We just choose to use it sparingly."  
  
The doors opened and the six walked out into the transporter room where the Senshi Two were already in the transport chambers. "Hi." Raynor greeted the group. "Hey, you three finally got the eye thing. Excellent. Anyway, these five are all set in their chambers." He turned dramatically to the clones. "Any last words?"  
  
"I knew this didn't look like a transporter chamber." Makoto Two joked.  
  
"My mom always said never to trust strangers, but did I listen? Nooo..." Minako Two added.  
  
"As good Last Words as any. Executioner Schezar, you may fire when ready."  
  
"Hell, if I knew you were going to do that I would have gotten my Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come costume. Ah well, hindsight's 20/20." Schezar said as he pressed a few buttons and the clones disappeared.  
  
"So why are we here?" Ami said.  
  
"Witnesses." Raynor said, then dropped the joke. "I figured I'd kill ten birds with five stones and transport you five back to where you were."  
  
"Oh. Thanks."  
  
"So where were you all?"  
  
"Me, Minako and Usagi were at the Shrine." Rei replied. "And... Mako and Ami were... Mako's apartment?"  
  
"Crown arcade." Makoto corrected.  
  
"Oh. There, then."  
  
"Alright. You got that, Schezar?" Raynor said over his shoulder.  
  
"Programmed and ready." Schezar replied. "One through three go to the shrine, four and five go to the arcade's side entrance."  
  
"Why the side entrance?" Usagi asked.  
  
"Oh, I forgot. Appearing out of thin air is common in your universe."  
  
"I knew that." Usagi said, chuckling nervously and sweatdropping.  
  
Schezar smiled. "So long as you don't have to program one of these things."  
  
"Hey... that hurt."  
  
"Now now, children, play nice." Raynor said.  
  
Usagi stuck her tongue out at Schezar as she and the rest of the Senshi went into the transporter booths. "Beam us up, Scotty." Minako said. "Sorry, always wanted to say that."  
  
"Perfectly alright... you're just going to burn in Hell for it." Schezar said.  
  
"How's about I just singe her for you?" Rei suggested.  
  
"Can I order the Extra Crispy recipe?"  
  
"Sorry, can't do that to a close friend. Original only."  
  
About a second later everyone in the room burst into laughter. "You people are too much, I'm sending you out of here." Schezar laughed, pressing a couple of buttons on the panel. The Senshi were still laughing when they disappeared from their booths.  
  
"Man, I've never seen you do a back-and-forth like that." Raynor said. "You'd be a good comedian."  
  
"Yeah, well, I'll save it for peacetime." Schezar replied as they both walked out of the transporter room. 


	2. Everybody's Fool

Everybody's Fool  
  
"Look, here she comes now... Bow down and stare in wonder... Oh,  
how we love you... no flaws when you're pretending... but now I  
know..."  
  
Two days have passed since the clones have disappeared, and the original Senshi have all but forgotten them. Minako and Rei are about to go hit the mall. Rei is finishing up her chores as she waits for Minako, who is late. But still fashionably late. "Hi, Minako!" Rei said as she saw the blonde walking up the steps to the shrine.  
  
"Hi, Rei... I swear, we... have got to meet... somewhere that doesn't... involve as many steps." Minako said in between exaggerated breaths.  
  
"Ah, the exercise'll do you good." Rei said, drawing a stuck-out tongue from Minako. "So you want to go storm the mall now, or catch your breath, come in and watch TV or whatever for a while?"  
  
Minako sat down on the bench and made a great show of falling backwards, resting on the bushes behind it. "So tired... Can't... go on..." Minako said, then dropped the overtired facade. "Yeah, I guess I could stand to rest for a while. Kinda comfy here, anyway."  
  
"Hi, Rei. I don't know how you stand going up these stairs every day." A second Minako said, walking up the steps, slightly offbalance.  
  
"Oh, here we go again." Rei said, exasperated. "Will the real Minako please stand up?"  
  
"Too... tired..." Minako One, the Minako lying on top of the bushes, said in mock exhaustion.  
  
"What's... uh, what's my problem?" Minako Two asked before shaking her head, as if to get the cobwebs out.  
  
"She made a joke involving going up all those steps and she's just milking it for all it's worth and then some." Rei replied. "You know how you are."  
  
Minako started laughing at that, and kept laughing harder until she was almost rolling on the floor. "It wasn't that funny, was it?" Rei asked nobody in particular.  
  
"I didn't think so." Minako One said.  
  
"Neither did I. You alright, Mina Two? And what happened to your eyes?"  
  
"What, she got that color thing?" Minako One asked.  
  
"No, nothing like that... they're just really red."  
  
"Sorry... hee hee hee... I'm just completely an-anviled. That's- that's why I'm la-ha-haughing so much..."  
  
"'Anviled'?" Minako One and Rei said at the same time.  
  
"Yeah... you never heard of it, have you?" Minako Two said, more a statement than a question, seeming to sober up a little. "Don't suppose you did, since Mako coined it in my universe. I'm high, ladies and-well, ladies. Sss... stoned out of my gourd." Minako Two knocked her knuckles on the side of her head to emphasize the point.  
  
"I'd say something about either wood or hollowness, or both, but I'm trying to cut back on self-depreciation." Minako One said, making Minako Two laugh again.  
  
"You're what?!" Rei said, sweatdropping. "High?! Hey, Mina-baka! Snap out of it!" She added to try to calm the still laughing Minako.  
  
"Give the lady a cigar! Better yet, give-give her a joint!"  
  
"Uh, no thanks to either, actually." Rei said slightly indignantly as she sat down on the bench beside Minako One, rubbing her temples. "You do pot in your universe?"  
  
"Me and the rest of the Senshi... You know, your doppelganger is a lot more fun."  
  
"I'd bet, if she's in half the condition you're in."  
  
"Speaking from personal experience, I don't think it'll do any good to lecture me." Minako said. "Man, did that sound weird."  
  
"Didn't it, though?" Rei said with a smirk as she turned back to the stoned Minako Two, who had burst into a fresh bout of laughter from Minako One's last statement. "Look, how's about we send you back to your original universe again. Forget this ever happened."  
  
"Forget-hee hee-forget what ever happened?" Minako Two asked.  
  
"That's the spirit."  
  
"...No, really, what happened? I, uh, I can't remember what we were talking about." Minako Two shook her head again. "Man, am I just too stoned for interaction of any kind..." She added to herself quietly.  
  
"Oh. Well, it's not important, don't worry about it." Minako One said as she flipped out her communicator. "Hey, Rei? While I'm talking to Raynor, how's about you page the others, see if they've found any other clones."  
  
"What am I, your secretary?" Rei said in mock anger as she got out her communicator, making Minako Two laugh again.  
  
"Thanks." Minako said, pressing a few buttons on hers. "Hello, Raynor? We've got another clone."  
  
"You do? Who this time, the cats? That Mamoru guy?"  
  
"Me again."  
  
"Didn't we get you already?"  
  
"Deja vu, I guess."  
  
"Didn't we get you already?"  
  
"Deja vu, I guess."  
  
This again doubled Minako Two over with giggles. "She sounds like she's having fun."  
  
"Tell me about it."  
  
"Bring her up, I'll get this sorted out again."  
  
"Will do."  
  
"And see if the others are free, I think it'd be good to try out the new attacks."  
  
"What? You mean the eye thing isn't just cosmetic?" Minako asked.  
  
"No, not by a long shot. I take it Ami didn't tell you?"  
  
"Would I be asking if she did?"  
  
"Probably not, unless you simply forgot it, but I doubt you're that devoid of brain cells."  
  
"Considering the state of my clone..."  
  
"What's this about your clone?"  
  
"Well, apparently the alternate universe Senshi are a bunch of stoners, and she's, as she put it, 'anviled'."  
  
"Oh. Interesting phrase... just so long as she isn't sick or injured or anything."  
  
"That sounded far too calm."  
  
"Hey, when you've seen what I've seen, you make Dorian Gray look like Usagi on a bad day. Besides, it's not my place to judge anyone. Anyway, I got really really accurate with the Rifle when I had my color change happen, and the 6 that got stuck here each got a new attack or upgrade."  
  
"Man, imagine if Zeratul becomes a DigiDestined."  
  
"I figured he was already."  
  
"No, he couldn't see the eye thing."  
  
"Oh... and if that's what he's like normal then-man, I shudder to think. Good thing he's on our side, ne?"  
  
"Hai. Venus out."  
  
Minako One turned to Rei. "That's taken care of... any other clones?"  
  
"I couldn't reach Makoto, but Ami and Usagi haven't seen theirs." Rei replied. "And Ami's going over to Makoto's now. She said she'd call us if anything happened."  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
"Never was and never will be, you don't know how you've betrayed  
me, and somehow you've got everybody fooled..."  
  
¯¯¯--- ¯¯¯--- ¯¯¯---  
  
"Hey, Ami." I say, opening the door for her to come in.  
  
"Hey, Makoto." She says as she wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me. I can feel my cheeks get hot. Someone explain to me why she's doing this, especially since she hasn't even hinted at liking me this way? Not that I mind. Much. I just like a little warning, is all.  
  
When I don't lean into the kiss right away she pulls back. "My, someone's happy to see me." I say with a smirk.  
  
"...Oh, shoot, don't tell me I'm in a different universe again." She replies.  
  
"Alright, you got me. I'm not your Mako."  
  
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, Makoto..." Ami says, blushing profusely and clutching a hand over her mouth.  
  
In other circumstances, this would be incredibly kawaii. All that's missing is those glasses... Snap yourself out of it, Mako. Focus on what's happening. "In my universe... well, you and I are lovers..." Ami Two continues.  
  
"I figured that."  
  
"...And I never noticed I was in a different universe, and-"  
  
"It's alright, Ami. No harm, no foul."  
  
"Now I feel like such a baka..."  
  
"Yeah, I would too..." I comment to myself, then immediately regret it. "Uh, I-I mean don't feel like a baka... it was an honest mistake." I amend hastily.  
  
"I guess it was..." She agrees reluctantly. "Well, I guess I'll go back to Rei's, see if any others have shown up with me again."  
  
"Alright." I say. "Hey, Ami?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Just because I didn't return that kiss doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it." I say with a smile and a wink.  
  
Despite her blush deepening another five shades, which probably isn't too healthy, she smiles back and nods. "Bye, Makot-Mako-chan."  
  
"Bye." I say as she walks out the door and down the hallway. "Well, that'll be the weirdest thing that happens today." I say to the empty apartment as I close the door. "Enjoyable, but weird."  
  
As if to disprove myself, my brain gives me a small headrush as I sit down, but doesn't let it go away. "Fine. Don't be the weirdest thing that happens today. See if I care."  
  
¯¯¯--- ¯¯¯--- ¯¯¯---  
  
I walk quickly down the street to Makoto's apartment, thinking I'm late, I'm late, I'm late over and over. Now, this wasn't my fault at all; My watch stopped and I didn't notice. And now I've got to be on the lookout for my-or possibly the others'-clones as well. This day is not turning out as well as I'd expected.  
  
Why do the fates love to mess with scheduling?  
  
I get to the apartment and I'm about to go in the door when someone opens it from the inside and walks out. My eyes widen to saucers as I realize that I'm the one walking out the door!  
  
My clone winks at me and gives me this little predatory grin that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Something's wrong. Very wrong. What's happened? What has she done to Makoto?  
  
As she casually strolls down the street, I start to panic. Makoto or the clone? I flip open my communicator and choose the former. "Hi, Rei? I just saw my clone going west out of Makoto's apartment. I'm going to go make sure she's alright."  
  
"Alright. We'll try to catch up to your clone."  
  
"If Makoto's out of commission I'm taking her to the hospital or the Hyperion so it's a safe bet that anyone with blue hair around isn't this me."  
  
"Will do. Mars out."  
  
I close the communicator and toss it back into Hammerspace as I give the mental command to transform and sprint up the four flights of stairs, then down the hall to Makoto's apartment. I quickly open the door and see Makoto, lying on the couch, watching TV. "Am-er, ah, Mercury! What are you doing here?" She says, bolting upright.  
  
I breathe a sigh of relief as I close the door behind me and detransform. "Sorry for startling you, Mako... I--whoa, you alright?"  
  
"Yeah, just a headrush..."  
  
"Oh." I say, my paranoia agin laid to rest."I saw my clone walking out and she gave me this evil grin that put me completely on edge."  
  
"Oh? Yeah, she's on her way to Rei's right now. That's a weird thing to do."  
  
"Really? ...Maybe I was wrong. She seemed to be smirking at me like she did something to you and I was too late or something."  
  
"What? I think you're just paranoid, Ami. She did nothing of the sort. We had no idea she was a clone until she kissed me, and after some red-faced explanations and an apology or thousand she left."  
  
I raise an eyebrow. "Seems your clone has a love life." She adds.  
  
"Seems like it, doesn't it? ...Hey, what are you implying?"  
  
"Nothing at all." She says with a mischevious grin.  
  
I stick my tongue out at her in reply. "You up to going to Raynor's universe then? since you, Minako and Rei got the eye thing, Raynor wants us to go field-test our weapons, to see how they w-hold on..." I say, a piece of metallic material on the carpet catching my eye. I pick it up by its sides, like a CD.  
  
"Looks like some metallic plate or something." Makoto comments.  
  
"Yeah. What's that symbol, though?"  
  
The symbol is a red forearm with a whip in its hand, the actual whip lash making a circle around the forearm. "I've never seen it before... Hmm..."  
  
"Neither have I... Think Raynor'd know? It looks like a war emblem or something of that nature." Makoto says, then shakes her head, almost as if to get the cobwebs out.  
  
"You alright?"  
  
"Yeah, I think so... I've just felt weird since Ami Two left."  
  
"Weird? How?"  
  
"I don't know. If I had to describe it... 'Buzzy' is the best I can come up with. Kind of like a permanent headrush. And it's gotten stronger since she left."  
  
"Don't say that. Please don't say that."  
  
"Sorry. Probably imagining it, anyway."  
  
"Yeah. Anyway, It's definitely worth a shot to page Raynor." I flip open my communicator and page him.  
  
"Y'ello?" He answers. "Hi, Ami."  
  
"Hi." I reply.  
  
"Another clone?"  
  
"Only part of it this time."  
  
Raynor's demeanor changes to one of pure business. "I'm listening."  
  
"My clone just walked out of Makoto's apartment, and we think she dropped this patch. "I hold the patch to the communicator window, the symbol-printed side towards Raynor, and his eyes almost bug out of his head.  
  
"You found that in Makoto's apartment?! Dropped by the clone?!"  
  
"Yeah. What does this symbol mean?"  
  
"First thing's first-did either of you touch the side without the symbol?"  
  
I look at Makoto, and she shakes her head as her expression changes to one of slight fear. "Not to our knowledge, I picked it up off the ground by its side, like a data disk."  
  
"Good. Wrap it in something non-porous and bring it here."  
  
"Ok... be there in a second." I shut off the link and look worriedly at Makoto.  
  
"She never touched me with that thing." She says quickly. "God damn, we've got an evil twin on our hands."  
  
"Correction. We have five."  
  
¯¯¯--- ¯¯¯--- ¯¯¯---  
  
"West from Makoto's apartment..." Venus says as we jump along the rooftops on the way to Mako's. May as well start the search at the origin, right?  
  
"Where would she be going?" I reply. "Makoto's is the westmost of any of our homes or hangouts."  
  
"Maybe that's the point." Minako says, springboarding on a chimney and flying ahead a rooftop or so.  
  
"So that's the way you want to play, eh?" I mumble to myself as I vault myself over a ledge and even myself out with her.  
  
"You need me to slow up for you?" She says, taunting me. Ooh, she's in for it now.  
  
"No thanks, I'm fine-" I say before I do a series of jumps and springs off of various walls and rooftops, turning on the proverbial afterburners. Hell, in my case, literally.  
  
Now it's on, an all-out sprint to the apartment complex. And it's Mars in the lead with Venus coming up fast on the outside...  
  
I see a flash of blue and white and then something hits me in the back in mid-jump and springs off of me, killing my momentum and doubling theirs. I land on the edge of the next building, barely. "Ow." I say of my knees, my palms and my back.  
  
Wait. Whatever kicked off of me was sharp.  
  
Heels.  
  
That was Mercury!  
  
"You alright?" Venus says, landing beside me.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine." I reply hastily. "We gotta move, that was Merc that just kicked off of me."  
  
"Wha-? I just saw a blue streak and next thing I know you almost don't make it on the-"  
  
"No time, Venus!"  
  
"-Right." She says and we both pick up the chase.  
  
In everyone there's a certain amount of ego put in whatever they do. I'm no different. She thinks she can outdo me? Especially after possibly injuring, or doing something worse to, Makoto?  
  
I'm probably leaving a smoke trail in my wake, not to mention Venus, as speed after her like a forest fire jumps from tree to tree. Buildings become almost a continual blur. I leap over one or two buildings at a time as I open up the Nitro. I'm catching up quickly. She's about ten buildings ahead-eight-  
  
I do another vault, the largest yet, and if she continues on straight I'll deliver the biggest flying tackle I've ever even attempted. I'm almost there... one more building...  
  
She drops down into the metre-or-so hole in between the buildings. Shoot, I'm going headfirst into gravel if I don't do something fast. I try to flip around and land on my feet, but don't quite make it, and end up sliding on my butt the length of the apartment's roof, only stopping when I hit a ledge on the other side. Man, is this going to hurt in the morning.  
  
I get up and immediately feel a sharp pain in my tailbone, powerful enough to buckle my knees. I end up falling on my face. Damn, I hope it's not broken.  
  
"Mars!" I hear Venus say, skidding to a stop about five feet from me. "Are you alright?"  
  
"Yeah, I think so. My tailbone's the major question mark, but I don't think it's broken." I reply, rolling over to my back. Ow ow ow.  
  
"Alright. Mercury's probably long gone by now."  
  
"Really? I thought she'd just stop and see if I'm alright before getting away." I reply sarcastically, a little more venomous than I meant. This has not been a very good day so far. "Of course she's gone." I add in a defeated tone.  
  
"Uh... yeah." Venus backs off. "So now what do we do?"  
  
"We should probably detransform, let ourselves rest and heal some, and wait for our Ami and Makoto to finish at Raynor's."  
  
"Works for me. We have to get Usagi, too. Where's the closest meeting place from here?"  
  
"Minako looks over the edge of the building to get her bearings. "Probably the Crown Arcade, unless we want to wait at Makoto's. First thing's first, though-we should probably get off this rooftop."  
  
"Makes sense. How far to the ground?"  
  
Venus looks down from the edge. "Oh, about eight stories. Nothing we haven't handled before."  
  
"Not with a tailbone screaming at us we haven't."  
  
"Point. Can you walk?"  
  
I shakily get to my feet. "One foot in front of the other." I sing from Avalanche as I try to walk around. No pain, that's a good sign. "I'm fine with walking, but I don't want to risk that jump."  
  
"Easy enough." Venus says, picking me up in her arms.  
  
"Hey, Venus! This wasn't what I had in miiind!" I say as she jumps off of the ledge, landing perfectly on the ground below.  
  
"Hey, you're down now, aren't you?" She says, putting me down.  
  
"You ever do that again and-" I say, trying to find something evil enough to do to her. "I don't even know what I'll do. I'll probably start with the Extra Crispy recipe, though."  
  
"I could put you back up there." She half-threatens as we walk to the Crown Arcade. 


	3. My Immortal

My Immortal  
  
"And if you have to leave, I wish that you would just leave, but  
your presence still lingers here and it won't leave me alone..."  
  
"So what is this thing?" I ask, holding up the ziploc bag with the patch in it to Raynor.  
  
He takes it, and examines it. "Looks like the StimPack patch, but it could contain anything in it." He replies. "The patch transfers chemicals to the person through, usually, the back of the neck. Makoto, can you turn around and lift up your hair for me?"  
  
She does so, and a patch of slightly red skin is clearly visible. "Shit! Now we've got an emergency on our hands!" Raynor says, getting out his radio. "We need an emergency beam, three from the Conference room directly to sickbay."  
  
We transport to the sickbay. "We've got a UPV here!" Raynor announces.  
  
"UPV?" Makoto and I ask.  
  
"Unidentified Poison Victim." Raynor explains.  
  
Several medics come by and bring Makoto to the bed, lying her down and scanning the living daylights out of her very quickly. "I've got a positive on a minicapsule, vespene-Tritanitanium-lined, no data on the contents, and small doses of Delta-9 TetraHydroCannibinol in her system." one of the Medics said. "About 50 nans."  
  
"Let's get that capsule out bef-"  
  
"It burst!"  
  
"Døk'Sha! Contents!"  
  
"Camo Viral. Count's up to 75 nans."  
  
"Oh, great."  
  
"Camo viral?" I ask.  
  
"Short for camouflage. Manmade, it's technically a cold virus and a replicator spliced together. It's a virus that latches on to chemicals and organisms that could be present in the bloodstream and replicates them at an alarming rate. So if it latched onto a platelet, we could have a massive blood clot on our hands, among any number of other things that could go horribly wrong." Raynor turned to Makoto. "How do you feel?"  
  
Makoto's staring at the ceiling, seemingly completely detached from the outside world. "Weird... like I, uh... like... like I got off a really fast roller coaster." She's squinting so much that her eyes are almost closed.  
  
"Sounds like the viral latched onto the THC." I comment.  
  
"Ok... what is THC, anyway?"  
  
"The active ingredient in marijuana." One of the male medics explains. "Quite the fun chemical, if I may say so, sir."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Raynor and I look at each other for a second before both turning to Makoto. "Do you smoke pot?" We both ask at the same time.  
  
"What...? No, I don't-don't smoke anything. Why... is what I'm feeling having something to do with this?"  
  
"Yeah, the virus that the patch put into you started replicating the THC in your blood. To put it bluntly, you're high, and about to get a lot higher."  
  
"Oh... This is kinda fun, actually." She says, a huge grin on her face.  
  
"Yeah, and even with the reproduction rate it'll be a while until the THC makes her overdose. She's in for a hell of a ride."  
  
"Especially since we can't fight the virus itself." Raynor said. "Or the chemical. How did the THC get into her system, though?"  
  
"Maybe the capsule had THC in it with the Camo virus?"  
  
"Yeah, that could be it." Raynor said, looking at the patch through the plastic again. "I'm going to get this scanned, you can come with me or stay with Makoto if you want."  
  
"I'll stay here."  
  
"Ok... I'll page you if we find anything we aren't expecting."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
Raynor walks out the doors quickly and they close behind him. "Hey, Makoto." I say in a quiet voice. "You ok?"  
  
"Yeah, I-I'm ok, I, uh... I guess... this is so... so weird... but so amazing..."  
  
"The situation..." I sigh heavily. "...is that we can't stop what's happening. The virus in your system is replicating what's making you feel like this."  
  
"Oh... so I'm-I'm going to go even hhh...igher than this...?"  
  
"Until you fall asleep or overdose, or both."  
  
"I think the former... Everything f-feels like it's made of lead..."  
  
"Are your eyes in any pain or anything? They're really red."  
  
"They're feeling a l-little uncomfortable... Why are they, uh... Why... Damn it, my-my brain isn't working."  
  
"Understandable. I know what you're going through."  
  
Makoto gives me this look that says 'hold up, what?' "Remember that big project on cannabis I did?"  
  
"Oh..." She replies.  
  
"What did you think I meant?"  
  
"First-hand experience."  
  
"Oh yeah, I'm a huge pothead." I say sarcastically, making her laugh. "I'll see if they've got anything for your eyes." I turn and face one of the medics making notes on another Star Trek-inspired device, this one a notepad-like screen. He's the same one who explained about the THC. "Do you have some StarCraft equivalent of Visine for her... sorry, I didn't catch your name?"  
  
"Will Luttrell, ma'am. And sorry, I don't know what Visine is or was."  
  
"Oh. It reduces the blood vessels in the eyes. 'Gets the red out', as it were."  
  
"I see... Yeah, we've got something like that." The medic says, getting out a hypospray-like device and pressing a few buttons.  
  
He walks around to the other side of Makoto. "Don't blink, I'm going to spray this stuff in your eyes."  
  
"Ok, doc. Not blinking." Makoto replies.  
  
The medic sprays the solution in her right eye, and it clears almost instantly. He repeats this with the other eye. "Thanks." I say.  
  
"That's better..." Makoto says, mostly to herself.  
  
"No problem." He says as he finishes making notes on the pad. "Anything happens, you can page us by pressing here." He shows both of us a glowing red square on the pad.  
  
"Will do." I say as he walks over to the next filled bed.  
  
"Hard to-to believe sss... omething so amazing... could be bad." Makoto says suddenly.  
  
"What?" I reply, turning around to face her again.  
  
"Well, you know... know how there's all this stuff about, like, 'oh, Marijuana's a, uh... a-a drug, it's bad, it's evil, don't do it' in the media. Now that I'm high like this, I don't, uh, don't believe... don't believe a second of it. All crap to me."  
  
"Sounds like stoned rambling to me."  
  
She halfheartedly sticks out her tongue in reply. It makes me laugh that she can be so carefree about something so serious. All part of the effects of the drug, if I remember my project on it correctly. "Why thi- this white?" She says, again without warning.  
  
"Why what white?" I ask, confused.  
  
"Why are all hospitals, no matter what-what time, or... or, uh, planet, the same damn shade of creamy white?"  
  
"Dunno. Something having to do with light and cleanliness, I would imagine."  
  
"Cleanliness I can see. Why light?"  
  
"Well, if the walls were a perfect harsh white like a Clean Room then you'd get blinded as soon as you walked in the door. This color is still light enough to see dirt-or whatever else could possibly splatter on a hospital wall-" This makes Makoto laugh again. "-but isn't so hard on the eyes."  
  
"I still say that a light green would look better."  
  
"Isn't it a light green, by your eyes?" I ask with a smirk.  
  
"Hey yeah! It is!" She says, starting to laugh again. She keeps laughing for a couple of minutes before finally calming somewhat, then shaking her head shuddering for a second or so. "Head rush." She explains.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Yeah... Wh-what was I laughing about?"  
  
"No idea, it wasn't that funny. Hey, computer, what was she laughing about?" I say half-jokingly.  
  
"'Isn't it a light green, by your eyes?'" The computer quotes in my voice, then, in Makoto's, replies "Hey yeah! It is!"  
  
That sets Makoto off again, possibly even more than last time, and another five minutes pass with her laughing her head off.  
  
When she calms down enough to speak, she says "Hey, tall dark and armed to the teeth," looking to the door. I look up and see Raynor standing there, a look of amusement on his face.  
  
"You know, in other circumstances this could be fun." He says.  
  
"Yeah, probably. Any word?"  
  
"We found THC and the Camo virus on the patch, and a partial of your fingerprints. Nothing else."  
  
¯¯¯--- ¯¯¯--- ¯¯¯---  
  
"So am I going to die, doc?" I ask, as sober as I possibly can. Which is not very, considering. My god am I stoned.  
  
"We don't know if THC overdoses can be killers or not." Raynor says. "You're gonna be the closest anyone's ever came."  
  
That's comforting, I think sarcastically. "So I might not die?"  
  
"Yeah, you might not die."  
  
"Alright, something that went right today!" I say, attempting to pump a fist in the air. Didn't work.  
  
Damn this... uh... this... arg. Imagine trying to make a Rembrandt on an Etch-a-Sketch clamped to a paint shaker. That's thinking to me.  
  
"Tired, are we?"  
  
"After doing the equivalent of this room filled to the ceiling with weed, you would be too."  
  
"Next time I can get that much I'll try it. Bet everything's fun, right?"  
  
"Right!" I say with a giggle.  
  
"That's how I want to die." Raynor comments to Ami.  
  
"Hey, you want to take my place, go right ahead. I've got the rest of my life ahead of me."  
  
"You know, I'm only 30."  
  
"You're still in the age of majority, and have been for like a decade..." A particularly strong wave of this high feeling washes over me and wipes the proverbial hard drive... what was I talking about? "...So, uh, yeah."  
  
"Yeah, I see your point."  
  
"Uh...what point was this?" I ask genuinely.  
  
"Never mind, probably just stoned rambling."  
  
Makoto stuck her tongue out again. "That's what Ami said."  
  
"Hey, her brain isn't completely jello yet!" Ami says, making me laugh again. Man, that was funny. I laugh for the third-or fourth?-time for a long while. But all this laughing's also sapping my strength because when it stops I feel twice as tired as before. I clasp my hands together and rest them on my stomach as I close my eyes and drift off. I attempt to say "Good night", but I have no idea if it actually made it or not.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
"You used to captivate me by your resonating light but now I'm  
bound by the life you left behind... your face, it haunts my once  
pleasant dreams... your voice, it chased away all the sanity in me..."  
  
¯¯¯--- ¯¯¯--- ¯¯¯---  
  
"I guess we should let her sleep." Raynor says. "She looks so peaceful..." He adds sadly.  
  
"I don't think we've got a choice in the matter." I reply with a smirk. "She could sleep through Hurricane Ethel when she's sober. With that level of high a small nuclear explosion could erupt in this room and not wake her."  
  
"Point."  
  
Raynor's D3 beeps and he activates it. "Raynor's Clone Disappearing Service." He says.  
  
"Funny, Raynor." Rei says sarcastically from the D3. "Listen, we've got a small problem here. We can't find Ami Two."  
  
"Did you check her house? Maybe she went home and assumed the role of your Ami."  
  
"Yeah, we did, and she's not there. I don't suppose you have anything like the Temporal Prime Directive in your universe?"  
  
"Sort of, yes. Scanners and defensive equipment are fine to give, or receive as the case may be, but nothing like weaponry."  
  
"Oh, excellent. Just what I was going to ask you for."  
  
"A scanner? Sure, I'll send Ami back with one. Where are you now?"  
  
"We just got to the Crown Arcade."  
  
"I'll be there with the scanner in a second." I say.  
  
"Will do, Merc. Mars out."  
  
"See you." Raynor says, closing the link and switches the D3 for the Scanner in his Hammerspace. "There you go."  
  
"Thanks." I say, getting out my minicomputer and azure D3. "Little trick of mine. Instant DigiPort, anywhere, anytime."  
  
"Cool."  
  
"DigiPort Open!"  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
I end up in a side alley outside the Crown Arcade, where I walk out nonchalantly and go in the front doors. Rei, Minako and Usagi are all there, as is Minako's clone. She looks a little better than Makoto, but not by much. "Hi guys." I say, going over to their booth and sitting down.  
  
"Hi, Ami." They all say. They look really dejected, except for Minako Two, who just looks lost in space. Kinda IC, actually.  
  
"I got the scanner." I report.  
  
"Yeah. What of Makoto? Is she Ok?" Rei asks.  
  
"Well, to her everything's ok, but it's pretty bad. We found a small patch in her apartment that the Clone Ami stuck on her neck at some point. The patch contained this cyborg virus, called the Camouflage virus, and a little THC, the active ingredient in pot."  
  
"THC? Why that?" Minako One asked.  
  
"We're not sure why they chose THC itself, but it might be because the virus replicates chemicals and does damage that way. It happened to choose the THC in her system."  
  
"Man, that'd get you baked black..." Minako Two said distantly.  
  
"Yeah, and I saw it firsthand. If the virus doesn't stop soon, she'll be the first OD ever."  
  
"What? How much of this stuff do you need to OD?" Usagi asked.  
  
"Let me put it this way-it's the equivalent of this arcade, no people, no machines or any furniture at all in it, filled to the ceiling with it."  
  
Everyone else's jaw dropped. "Yeah. And you'd fall asleep before ODing anyway."  
  
"Well, at least she's not in any pain..." Rei offered.  
  
"Actually, before she fell asleep she was having a lot of fun. Everything was all peaceful and nice and happy to her, and she ended up laughing herself to sleep."  
  
"What a way to go." Minako Two said.  
  
"That's what Raynor said."  
  
"Yeah. So are we going to go look for Ami Two now?" Usagi asked. "She could be getting away."  
  
"Oh, yeah. We should do that now." Minako One agreed.  
  
"This means I gotta move, doesn't it?" Minako Two asked.  
  
"Or one of us takes you back to Raynor's universe, whichever would be best." I reply.  
  
"Yeah, Ok. Man, I'm just meteored... I gotta go sleep this off or something."  
  
"How's about I take her back to the Hyperion, and you three keep up the search until I get back?"  
  
"Sounds like a plan. You got the scanner?"  
  
"Yep. Here." I say, giving it to Rei. "Good luck."  
  
"Yeah. She's probably got quite the lead."  
  
"I'll do my best to catch up with you."  
  
"I'm sure you will." Rei replies as we all get up from the booth. "See you."  
  
"See you." I say as they leave, flipping my communicator open as I do and paging Raynor.  
  
"Raynor's Clone Disappearing Service."  
  
"It's still not funny, Raynor, even on this end. I'm bringing a very, very high Minako your way."  
  
"Oh no... don't tell me they-" Raynor starts.  
  
"Nonono, it's a clone. She just went and stoned herself before she got here." I reply. "Coincidence. I think." I amend as I realize how big a coincidence it would have to be.  
  
"Oh. That's a relief. Well, bring her over, I'll get her home."  
  
"On my way. Mercury out."  
  
I turn to Minako Two. "You able to walk, or should I carry you?"  
  
"In other circumstances, and if you were my Ami, I'd gladly let you carry me. But you're not, so I guess I can walk a little if I have to."  
  
"Good. Right this way." I get up and lead her out and back into the alleyway.  
  
"Now if you were my Ami, I'd be wondering about your intentions coming back here..."  
  
I blush slightly as the meaning of the words hits me. "Well, I'm not your Ami." I say as I get my minicomputer and D3 out again.  
  
First Makoto, now Minako? I wonder about my clone's love life as I say "DigiPort Open!" 


	4. Haunted

Haunted  
  
"Still can't find what keeps me here when all this time I've  
been so hollow inside... I know you're still there..."  
  
"One Minako Aino, 90 minutes at 450º, coming up." Raynor says to nobody in particular. "Do the honours, Schezar."  
  
"Closing the oven door as we speak." Schezar said as he pressed a few buttons and the Minako clone disappeared.  
  
"Alright. Now that that's done, I have myself to hunt." I say.  
  
"Just try to bring her in with her mouth and vital organs still functional. We need to figure out why she did this." Raynor says.  
  
"Leave it to you to take all the fun out of it." Schezar comments.  
  
"Hey, I left out a lot there that could be spilled, cut off or otherwise damaged." Raynor replies.  
  
I get out my minicomputer, deciding I'm not going to waste any time acknowledging that conversation. Nonetheless I can't help but sigh tiredly as I say "DigiPort Open!" once again.  
  
I wonder if it's possible to get frequent flyer points on this thing... no, of course not. I'm as bad as Makoto sometimes.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
I reappear pretty much where I left, in the alley behind the Arcade. I quickly page Rei. "Finished the delivery already?"  
  
"Yeah. Listen, you picked up the trail?"  
  
"Minako attempted to scan the area, but so far we've found nothing. For all we know we could have been searching for the Easter Bunny."  
  
"So that's what this egg-shaped button's for!" Minako exclaims in the background, making me, Rei and Usagi laugh. "Alright then, where are you?"  
  
"We're at the shrine."  
  
"On my way. Mercury out."  
  
I close the link, then transform and start sprinting. Buildings, trees, pedestrians, all become a blur to me as I hit highway speeds.  
  
Damn it, there's too much foot traffic. I jump to the rooftops and continue running.  
  
Not a minute and a half later I finally clear the last building and hit the ground... then mentally curse myself as I remember the thirty-eight steps that lead up to the shrine. Stupid, stupid, stupid... I chide myself as I run up the set in about four seconds. "Hi." I say as I clear the last few steps. "No change in the situation, I'm assuming, since I paged?"  
  
"What, you expected your clone to be stupid enough to walk by the shrine while four senshi are on their tail?" Rei said. "Maybe if they chose Usagi instead of you..."  
  
"Hey!" Usagi says. "What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
Rei, flashing me an evil grin, turns to Usagi. "It means-"  
  
"Rei! Usagi!" I yell, making them both freeze in their tracks. "Thank you." I say in my normal voice. I turn to Minako, holding the scanner. "The scanner?"  
  
Minako hands it to me. I sit down on one of the benches beside Rei and crack my knuckles, looking over the buttons and screen. "Oh, for-would you believe these Terran have the same button interface for this Scanner as the Star Trek universe has for the Tricorder?" I say as I type commands, scanning the known persons database for Ami Two.  
  
"No, I wouldn't. And I'm not even going to ask how you know that." Minako says.  
  
"Ah, here we go." I ignore Minako's comment as I continue to type. A faint blipping sound fills the air. "Homing program. Direction, distance, even a map of the terrain from there to here."  
  
"Thank Mars for the techie." Rei says. The others dramatically start bowing down to me, as if I'm some ancient Egyptian god announcing my presence or something.  
  
"Thank Raynor for the scanner." I counter. "Alright, she's almost directly west of here, 274º specifically... and... five clicks, and counting. Her speed's about sixty km/h."  
  
"What are we waiting for?" Rei says as the three of them transform. "Lead on."  
  
"Leading." I reply as I resume my running along the rooftops, and the others follow.  
  
More blurs. I get a reading of the current speed-seventy-three. Too slow, she's maintaining the speed of sixty. It'll take us far too long to catch up to her. Time to pull out all the stops.  
  
A surge of energy floods my senses as I give the mental command for a slight adrenal rush. My speed pushes ninety as I go into overdrive.  
  
She's close. I can see her now.  
  
During a long leap I glance backwards. The others have fallen behind considerably. Damn, I was hoping for a little backup.  
  
I summon my Ice Dagger. Non-life-threatening injuries. I think. Easiest way to incapacitate her... hmm... ah. I know.  
  
She seems to not notice me gaining quickly, because she's not panicking or trying to accelerate, or even going in another direction. My advantage. I spring from a ledge and dive for her, stabbing her in her right leg. She screams and falls to the ground, her and I skidding to the other side of the roof where we hit either a large ledge or a wall, I couldn't see.  
  
She tries to get the dagger out of her leg. "Don't! It'll explode!" I warn, but that doesn't stop her from trying. She only succeeds in separating the handle from the blade.  
  
I think quickly, pulling out the part of the blade that's sticking out and flinging it away. When it explodes, her and I are picked up and thrown about ten feet to the side, and are now in a corner. She's curled up in a ball now, whimpering.  
  
The others catch up. "Whoa, Merc! What did you do?" Venus says, staring at the streak of blood from where we were to here.  
  
"Stabbed her in the leg." I reply. "Whatever works."  
  
A crucial mistake of mine was to not take the handle of the blade from her when I could. Damn it, I should have been more careful. In a blur of motion, she swings wildly and connects with my right leg, like I did with hers. Red fills my vision and pain floods my senses as I buckle and scream in agony, dropping to the ground. "AMI!" the other three Original Senshi say simultaneously.  
  
Moon and Mars hold Ami down while Venus moves to get the dagger. "No! It'll explode!" I repeat my earlier warning, stopping her. "You have to do it a certain way..."  
  
I pull it out slowly, carefully, stopping once or twice because of the pain. I finally get it all the way out, and then anger takes over as I grab Mercury by the front of her blouse and pull her roughly to me, bringing the dagger-my blood still glistening a pinkish color on the blade- to her neck. "You evil... sick... bitch... you deserve to die..." I spit. My voice has the most hatred and malice in it I've ever heard from anyone.  
  
"No, Mercury!" Venus tries to talk me down. "We need her alive, remember?"  
  
Logic slowly regains its control over my conciousness and I let her go before I make good on the threat. I let Mercury Two drop to the ground, where she curls back up into a ball, and the dagger follows her and disappears into a snowclowd. I slump against the wall and detransform so I can heal faster. The energy spent from my body has taken its toll, and now that I'm coming back down from the adrenal rush I feel more tired than, I think with a mental smirk, Makoto. Just when you thought you saw the ultimate tired...  
  
Before I can do anything else, I'm out cold.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
The activity has all but ceased for the moment. Ami Two is in questioning with the Protoss. Mercury have me-what am I saying, after what she did, to me and Makoto, she deserves no mercy. The Protoss are going to attempt a mind-meld or something like that to try and find out what the hell is going on.  
  
There's been no change in Makoto's condition. They said the Virus has slowed its production of THC, but not enough for her condition to improve. They're puzzled by this, but say there's a slight DNA mutation in this strain of the Camouflage Virus which could explain it. Curiously enough, the estimated production/flush rate is about the same. It's as if the virus wants Makoto to stay asleep, or at least completely incoherent, without killing her.  
  
I've got something to occupy my time, however-Minako, Rei, Usagi and I are in the holodeck target program, testing the new attacks. "Alright, R- er, Mars, you're up first." Raynor says.  
  
Mars concentrates hard, then reverse-intones "Mars... Fire Dagger!"  
  
Much like my Ice dagger, Mars draws a line in the air with her finger, and it fattens into a dagger that looks like, well, a flame. It glows as if it's an actual flame, and has two points, one higher than the other. The handle looks like it's made of volcanic glass with still-molten lava as its trim. "Cool." Mars says, examining the weapon.  
  
"That's almost like mine," I comment, bringing out my Ice dagger again to compare with Mars'.  
  
"Yeah, almost."  
  
"So what's its special function?" Raynor asks.  
  
"Special function?" Rei repeats, confused.  
  
"Each of the new weapons we've seen so far has had a secondary function-either long-range for blades or close-range for bows and projectile weapons. I'm just wondering what your dagger's would be."  
  
"I guess yours would be like mine." I say, setting up to throw the blade at a target.  
  
I throw the blade, and the shards it splits into hit the target and explode. "Oh. I don't know. Probably like yours..." Rei says, taking aim at a target at the other end of the room.  
  
She went to throw the dagger, but held onto it. The blade sprang to life and shot off towards the target. Odd, the pillar of fire doesn't seem to want to go upwards like it should.  
  
The target tries to dodge it, but Mars whips the handle to the side and the movement travels down the column and hits the target, blowing it up. For effect, Mars cracked the Flame Whip in the air, then brought it back into a dagger. "Impressive." Venus says.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"Although I'm not surprised you got a whip. It suits you."  
  
"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Mars says, turning to Minako. You can see the flames in her eyes.  
  
"Nothing, nothing at all." Venus says with a nervous laugh and a sweatdrop that could have extinguished the dagger. "Just complementing the weaponry. Nothing more."  
  
"Alright then." Mars says, flipping the dagger up into the air. A volcanic cloud formed around it, and when it disappeared the dagger had vanished.  
  
"I'm not going to even pretend to want to know what just happened." Raynor says, his eyebrows coming dangerously close to his hairline.  
  
"Good." Mars, Venus, Moon and I say simultaneously.  
  
"Moving on," Raynor says hastily. "...What's yours, Venus?"  
  
"Let's see. Venus..." She reverse-intones. "...Cupid's Bow!"  
  
A small vortex appeared, like the Moon Rapier. Venus caught the Bow, then stuck the obligatory action pose. "Cool. But where's the arrows?" Moon says.  
  
The bow is a glowy gold, and looks like Kari's, almost, but a little smaller. And there's no blade in the handle or a quiver. "Energy." Venus explains.  
  
She goes to draw back an invisible arrow and one made out of energy appears, ready to be fired. Venus takes aim at a long-distance target, and lets the arrow go. It left a glowing streak in the air as it flies, and when it hits the target it exploded. "Well, the long-range checks out. What about short-range?" Raynor asks.  
  
"Hmm..." Venus thinks for a second. "Oh, I know." She says.  
  
She twirls the bow around and it seemed to melt into a circle. "What's this called?" she asks.  
  
"A Chakram, if I'm not mistaken." I reply.  
  
"Don't those have the bladed part all the way 'round? This thing's got a grip here." Venus points out where there isn't a sharp edge.  
  
"Maybe some Shakrans have grips?" Usagi offers.  
  
"Chakrams." I correct automatically.  
  
"Whatever."  
  
"I guess they could have grips." Venus replies to the original question.  
  
She flips the Chakram in the air and it remelts and unfolds back into the bow, then holds it backwards and, like a rubber band, flicks it to the ground back into the reappeared vortex. "That's cool."  
  
"Another thing that's cool is that you five all have blades of some sort." Raynor comments. "Mars and Mercury have daggers, Venus has the Chakram, and Usagi has her Rapier. Wonder what Jupiter has?"  
  
"Hopefully we'll be able to find out." Venus says sadly before we all detransform.  
  
"She'll be alright... The camo virus might just die off and she'll come down again."  
  
"What happened with the other Camo Virus patients?" I ask. "Did the virus ever die off within a close distance of the person's death?"  
  
"Once... The patient had received a shrapnel cut from an A'Athrak- this sea urchin thing that explodes if provoked-and the virus latched on to it. The poison in the shrapnel is very, very weak, designed to take down small slugs and the like, its prey-and so it took a while before the stuff actually did any damage. It in itself was a hallucinogen, so the guy acted like he was on an acid trip the whole time before going into cardiac arrest. This took two days for the virus to manufacture that amount of chemical, and at about a day and a half it didn't look like it would make enough to kill him before the viral died off. Unfortunately the virus went into overdrive just before they all started dying, and it was too much for him. We think it's a kamikaze mechanism."  
  
"So is she going to be alright?" Usagi asks. "Or is the same thing going to happen?"  
  
"So far the virus is making enough to match how much is leaving her system, effectively keeping her asleep until it dies or ups the dosage. And from experience the latter's probably going to happen before the former. But there's still the matter of the DNA mutation in this strain. That's the big question mark."  
  
Raynor's D3 blipped and he pulled it out of Hammerspace, opening it.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
RynØr: Y'ello.  
  
Kinomotochan: Hi! n.n  
  
RynØr: Hey, Sakura! What's up?  
  
Kinomotochan: We've got a small problem on our hands.  
  
RynØr: If you tell me you've got kamikaze clone Cardcaptors in your universe I'm closing this link.  
  
Kinomotochan: Should I ask?  
  
RynØr: I wouldn't recommend it.  
  
Kinomotochan: Ok then.  
  
Kinomotochan: A Card is missing.  
  
RynØr: Meaning?  
  
Kinomotochan: Meaning it's either in this universe or on your ship, and will use its effects to generally run amok and cause havoc. Fortunately it's only Confusion.  
  
RynØr: What does that one do?  
  
Kinomotochan: It possesses someone and makes them have arguments with themselves in their mind.  
  
RynØr: I c. Confusing, at the very least.  
  
Kinomotochan: Nothing too big, but to exorcise it you have to be not confused when it tries to confuse you, and it tries to prevent that by giving you a massive headache.  
  
RynØr: Well, you look in your universe. I'll page you if we find the card here.  
  
Kinomoto: Thanks. In its true form it's a pile of black... black something.  
  
RynØr: Ok, thanks. Raynor out.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
"Great..." Raynor said flatly as he closed the link.  
  
"What?" Minako asked.  
  
"We've got The Confusion Card out of its card form and possibly here on the ship."  
  
"The Confusion Card?" Usagi says timidly. "Oh no, what are we gonna do?!... What does it do, anyway?" She adds, making the rest of us laugh. After a few seconds Usagi starts laughing herself.  
  
When Raynor stopped laughing, he replies "It makes you have an argument with yourself."  
  
"I thought that'd be Mirror." I say, then immediately regret it as a sudden pang of familiarity nips at my senses.  
  
"Sounds like the reason we've got clones running around." Minako comments.  
  
"The card involves you having arguments with yourself in your mind." Raynor explained. "Completely contained within yourself. Anyway, in its true form it's this shapeless black mass, so if you find it call security and call in a code 42."  
  
"Code 42?" I ask.  
  
"Pickup of hazardous chemicals and organisms. Basically, we put the object in question into a forcefield so it can't go anywhere, and then do whatever is called for to get rid of it, in this case shipping it back to the CCS universe."  
  
"I see."  
  
"So are we done here?" Usagi asked. "It's almost dinnertime, and I really should be getting home before my parents get worried."  
  
"Me too." Rei added.  
  
"Oh, shoot, problem." I say as I realize my plans for today that never got off the ground. "I already said I was going to stay at Mako's overnight." I think for a second. "Maybe I could stay here, in another spare quarters?"  
  
"Shouldn't be a problem." Raynor replies.  
  
"Good. I don't want to leave Makoto here by herself anyway."  
  
"I guess we can all arrange something to stay here." Rei says. "None of us are going to want to leave either."  
  
"We're staying, no matter what." Minako agrees.  
  
"So I guess I'll see the three of you after dinner." Raynor says.  
  
"I guess you will." Usagi repeats as the three of them walk to a terminal beside the door leading out of the holodeck and DigiPort out.  
  
"You going to be alright?" Raynor says to me. "You seem closer to Makoto than they do."  
  
"Yeah, I am, kind of... she seems to be the one who understands me the most. Most people, they only see the brain. They don't really see me. But Mako... she sees me. Same with her, some people only see the brawn. I know the girl."  
  
"I know how that feels. I was top of my class in the academy. They made up awards just to give 'em to me. And, as a result, some people only saw that. They saw someone completely absorbed in their field."  
  
"But if they got to know you, instead of assuming all the time, they'd know otherwise."  
  
Raynor smiles. "Poured from the same mold, we were."  
  
We stop for a moment and notice the-conservative estimate, one and a half feet difference-between him and I. "Okay, maybe not in the physical sense." He corrects.  
  
"Doesn't matter. What matters is what's here-" I hold my hand to my heart. "And here." I point to my right temple.  
  
"Exactly." Raynor says. "Yeah, you seem like you're gonna be fine."  
  
"I certainly hope so. So what's the special for tonight?"  
  
"Would you believe you came in on another Bengalaas night?"  
  
"After today, I'll believe anything..." I say as me and Raynor walk out of the holodeck. 


	5. Tourniquet

Tourniquet  
  
"Do you remember me... lost for so long... will you be on the  
other side or will you forget me?"  
  
It's 12:30 AM right now. I can't sleep. Can you really blame me?  
  
Let's go down the list of notables for this last little while. One of if not the best friend I've ever known is a vegetable until something happens with the virus she contracted. I have a copy of myself in the brig for infecting Makoto. Nobody knows anything, or nobody will talk.  
  
I stare at the replicator, and mull over a possible alternative to all this thinking that is going to drive me insane. I've done my homework on marijuana and I know how powerful a sleep aid it is, which is exactly what I need at the moment. And I can't stop thinking about how peaceful and carefree Makoto was when she was still awake and, well, stoned, and I need that too.  
  
I've made my decision. I hope it's the right one.  
  
I walk up to the replicator. "Please create one point five grams of marijuana, strain Blueberry Hydro, ground, a Sherlock Holmes-style pipe with a bowl large enough to hold all of the Blueberry..." Anything else? I ask myself. "And a lighter, please." I say, my voice now starting to shake.  
  
The ordered materials appear in the indent in the wall and I pick them up, examining the bowl of the pipe to make sure a screen is in it, and bringing them back to my bed. I sit down and pack the bowl of the pipe with the ground marijuana, and then hesitate. Do I really want this? Yes, One part of my mind answers. No, Another says.  
  
I've gone this far, I'm not going to stop now. A third part of my mind says, overriding the first two. I light the lighter and move it around the top of the packed bowl, inhaling, and the contents spark and burn. I feel the smoke traveling down into my lungs, singeing the back of my throat and irritating what seems like every cilia in my respiratory system but I make sure not to cough and lose the hit. I hold in the smoke for as long as I can, and after twenty-five or so seconds I exhale. I hope this works. I think, taking another hit.  
  
As I hold it in the first catches up to me and I start my ascent. I marvel at this new feeling, unlike anything else I've experienced. Makoto was right in her first description. I think. "Buzzy." She says in my mind.  
  
My entire body feels infused with energy, like I've connected myself to a circuit. It's also shorting out my brain. I guess it operates at a different voltage than the rest of my body.  
  
I continue taking hit after hit until I don't get any more smoke out of the ash in the bowl. "C-Computer?" I say, or at least attempt.  
  
Apparently the computer can understand Anviled, and blips in response. "Wh-where would the garbage can or whatever...where-where would that be in this room?" I ask it.  
  
"The replicator is the equivalent of the garbage disposal. To use this function, place the unwanted materials in the replicator and say 'garbage'."  
  
"Thanks, computer."  
  
I get up and, very very unsteadily, make my way the eight feet to the replicator from the bed. I put the pipe in and say "garbage", and the pipe vanishes. "Computer? What's the modern equiv-equ-version of, uh-" I concentrate hard on what I was thinking about. Arg, my mind's RAM just got its power cut off and I'm trying to sub in a 9-Volt battery for a household current. "-uh, Visine called?"  
  
"Tetrahydrozoline Hydrochloride Vespene solution is its chemical name; Its common name is The White Formula, named after Jack White, its creator."  
  
"Thank you. A Hypospray set... uh, set up to deliver... uh... whatever that stuff the computer just said was. Please." I say to the replicator.  
  
The replicator creates the hypospray, and I deliver the solution in both eyes. Instantly I feel them go back from their slightly stretched state to normal.  
  
I make it back to the bed and crawl under the covers. Wow, does this feel good. It's like everything is all right with the world. Like I'm the kind of person who follows trends and caring just went out of style.  
  
That's odd. That metaphor would never have come to me under normal circumstances. Of course, this hardly counts as normal circumstances. I guess I should just chalk this up as stoned rambling.  
  
A headrush begins and I go into an involuntary shudder when it happens, as if a wave of whatever this feeling is just crashed on top of me. When it's over I have no idea what I was talking about.  
  
...What was I talking about? Ah, never mind. Couldn't have been that important. I mean, stuff like my name and all that I know... rambling. Probably again. Stop it, me. Can't just go on rambling like this.  
  
I can feel myself drifting off to sleep, and welcome the waves of tiredness washing over me, like the tide of the soul, as I slip into the uncon-unc-sleep.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
I see... something. A box. No, a room. From the top. Like it had a glass ceiling.  
  
I see people. Makoto... and someone I don't recognize right away. She's familiar... Jenni. That's it.  
  
Jenni? Why Jenni? She passed away about a year ago.  
  
Makoto's smoking some marijuana with her. Her face is streaked with tears-She was upset about something?-but she's not upset now. She's coughing. Jenni quickly goes into another room, presumably to get Makoto a drink or something. She comes back and Makoto drinks a bit of the bottle of coke offered to her. Makoto then leans back on the couch she's on, and takes another drink. Her and Jenni start talking, but I can't hear what's being said.  
  
Reality shifts.  
  
Makoto's apartment, from the top again. Minako and Makoto this time, smoking more weed. Minako doesn't cough when she takes a hit, and says something. Apparently the glass is soundproof. Whatever it is, Makoto doesn't expect it, because she stops before she hits the pipe and says something back to Minako. After one more back-and-forth Makoto finally hits the pipe, and they sit for a while, talking aimlessly. After a minute and a half or so Minako gets out a laptop from her backpack.  
  
Reality shifts.  
  
I can see myself, like I'm in an out-of-body experience or something of that nature. I'm smoking more marijuana, with Makoto. I think I'm seeing how Ami started. The other Makoto and Ami. The clones. All of them, in fact. Makoto, then Minako, then me.  
  
But why? What purpose would a vision of this serve?  
  
They're in Makoto's apartment again. They both move from the living room to the bedroom, and as they walk in the doorway Ami says something and flops down on the bed. Makoto starts creeping up to the bed, almost like Ami's her prey, and pounces on her.  
  
Reality shifts. Good thing. I muse. Probably how her and my clone got started as lovers.  
  
The Hikawa shrine now. Rei's smoking now.  
  
Minako, Makoto and I are there also. We're pretty baked already, and Rei's starting as well. They start talking about something, but I still can't hear them at all.  
  
Reality shifts.  
  
What the...  
  
The universe has split in two. On my left is still the Shrine, but on my right Makoto's apartment's there again. At the shrine it's just Rei and Usagi; at Makoto's it's the five of us. At Mako's, everyone starts cheering Usagi on. At the Shrine, Usagi's storming out of the shrine and down the steps. What? Did she not want to try it?  
  
Reality shifts.  
  
Back to the shrine. Just one universe, possibly the left one from the last time. Usagi is taking a hit off of a ruby-red pipe-Rei's, I assume. Now Rei's being passed the pipe, and she takes a hit. A few seconds later she tries to lean back but the bench she's sitting on has no back. Usagi, in a rare feat of reflexes and athleticism, especially considering that she's in the middle of being stoned, catches her.  
  
Reality shifts.  
  
Someone is sitting at his computer. I don't think I've seen him before, but he seems... familiar. But he's definitely baked. No red eyes, just his whole body language just screams high. He's got a light-green T- shirt-almost like Raynor's green, but a little darker-and jeans on. He's also wearing glasses. He puts a floppy into his computer, saves whatever he was working on, then mumbles something to himself. Then a flash of light illuminates the room, and Setsuna appears.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
I awake with a short scream, still stoned. I try to shake the cobwebs out to figure out what made me so scared in my dream. I glance at the clock. 4:20. International Stoner Time.  
  
They say it started with a couple of college students in the states. Every day at 4:20 they'd meet by a tree in an out-of-the-way location, one where nobody went, to smoke up. The time just stuck, and now they say it's good luck to hit a pipe or smoke inhalation device of choice at 4:20. It's gotten so big April 20th, or 4/20 if you convert the month into a number, is an unofficial Cannabis day.  
  
Another wave of this buzzy feeling washes over me, blocking out my memory. The 9-Volt battery died.  
  
...What was I thinking about before?  
  
Nope. Not coming to me at all. Probably not important, anyway.  
  
My memory's dead, but not my thoughts, however, as I lay back in bed. Why did we have to meet up with this evil twin dimension? I think sadly.  
  
Any answer would only be a theory. Another part answers.  
  
It's not fair. It's not. Makoto shouldn't be on the verge of an overdose.  
  
Normally a red flag would be going up about now. I mean, how normal is it to have conversations with oneself? But for whatever reason I'm not alarmed.  
  
And all because you were late. The second part of my mind replies.  
  
It seems almost like my left brain, the logical one, is talking with my right, the creative one. Which one is which, I wonder? I guess the one that just thought was my left.  
  
...Yeah, I guess it is because I was late... My right brain agrees reluctantly.  
  
Tears start to flow. I suddenly feel a large pang of guilt hit me in my stomach so hard it feels like a tangible thing. My mouth feels like a desert.  
  
Another wave of this buzzy feeling floods my senses temporarily, and when it's done I can't remember what I was thinking about, but I do feel really guilty about it, whatever it was.  
  
How can you live with that? a part of my mind says, bringing back the memory of the last minute.  
  
More tears. How can I live with that knowledge? To know how badly I've betrayed Makoto, if I only was a little more careful...  
  
One thought pierces its way through the swarm of bee-like thoughts entering and leaving the hive of my head, like the Queen parting the brain activity sea.  
  
I can't live with that.  
  
I walk back to the replicator. "Razor blade." I whisper. The replicator creates one.  
  
I pause. That was too easy. I mean, you don't order razor blades normally, you'd order the whole thing, wouldn't you?  
  
Another wave of this buzzy feeling.  
  
What was I talking about before?  
  
I puzzle at what I was doing until the cold metal in my hand makes me remember. I walk back to the bed and sit down. I can't do this.  
  
You have to. It's the only way to apologize to Makoto, because she's dying and it's all your fault.  
  
Five seconds later, my scream pierces through the air and bounces off the walls. Warmth floods my senses as a river of blood travels down my arm and splits off into two streams around my elbow, rejoins at the bottom and drips down onto my leg.  
  
Five more seconds. Another scream. Another river.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
"I lay dying and I'm pouring crimson regret and betrayal... I'm  
dying, praying, bleeding and screaming... am I too lost to be saved...  
am I too lost?"  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
I lie down again, now fully awake because of the adrenaline the cuts forced into my system. My left arm is at my side, my right hanging off of the bed from the forearm down. I let the razor in my right hand slip and fall to the ground. Soon after I hear the drip, drip, drip of the blood leaving my body and falling to the ground, some bouncing off the razor.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
"My wounds cry for the grave... my soul cries for deliverance...  
will I be denied Christ... Tourniquet... my suicide..."  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
I bring my right arm back and rest both hands on my stomach, like Makoto did. The blood is still flowing and seeping through the cotton of my light blue pajamas easily. Not long now...  
  
The edges of my peripheral vision blur. The ceiling's tile pattern blends and fades. Everything goes grey.  
  
I feel... it's like something just left me. I turn my head and look at the floor, where a black mass has formed and is making its way to the door. The Confusion card... I let myself be tricked.  
  
Confusion seems to turn back to face me.  
  
And now you're going to die for it.  
  
Bright lights fill my vision. I'm... cold. My metabolism is slowing down.  
  
One of the lights is larger than the others, and is a light green. Reminds me of Makoto... I muse. I'll be joining her soon.  
  
Sooner than I thought, some part of my brain says as the green light forms into a ghost version of Makoto. "Oh... Ami... why?" She asks, sad.  
  
"My fault you're dead... can't live with that..." I whisper. "Coming... to join you..."  
  
"Not if I can help it you're not." Makoto says. Voice... tone of finality.  
  
Losing grip... reality. Can't argue. Too late to argue.  
  
Eyes close. Dark. Dark and cold. Like a cave. Scared. Too dark. No flashlight. Can't see.  
  
Feels... tight. Rock slide? Both arms-trapped. Can't move. Can't scream. Can't breathe. No help. Trapped.  
  
Tired. So... tired.  
  
Mako.  
  
Friend.  
  
Join you...  
  
...Soon... soon...  
  
¯¯¯--- ¯¯¯--- ¯¯¯---  
  
I start my journey back to my body. I hope I wasn't too late. I see medics rush down the corridor, some even going through me, as I go back to sickbay. One... the one who gave his name, though I didn't catch it, actually stopped for a half a second to look over the hallway again, as if he felt me when he went through me, but then goes off to Ami's quarters.  
  
I'm guessing you want to know why I'm walking around as a spirit when by all accounts I should be with my corporeal self in Sickbay.  
  
Something called me out of my body. Call it a link between her and I. Call it whatever you wish, really, it doesn't matter. What matters is that I was able to help her. When I got to Ami's quarters, I saw her lying there, her pajamas and the bed covered in her blood. I took the drawstring from her pajama bottoms and cut it-somehow, I'm not sure, all I know is suddenly I was thinking it needed to be in two and there it was-and fashioned two tourniquets on each of her arms to stop the blood flowing as freely as she probably would have liked. Please let there still be time for her. I have to pull through, and she has to pull through.  
  
I get to sickbay and enter back into my body. All I have to do now is wait. And waiting is something I was never very good at doing.  
  
I wish I still felt stoned. It would probably make it easier to wait.  
  
It would definitely make it easier.  
  
I wonder idly why I don't feel stoned as I shift dimensions again, but give up guessing after a while. After all, any answer wouldd only be a theory. 


	6. Imaginary

Imaginary  
  
"In my field of paper flowers and candy clouds of lullaby I lie  
inside myself for hours and watch my purple sky fly over me..."  
  
"Mmmnnmgn..."  
  
I slowly wake up. What happened? I can't remember anything past that bowl at midnight, and waking up at 4:20. Whatever happened, I don't want to face the world right now, and roll over my stomach, reaching for the blanket to pull over my head. No blanket, and unexpectedly I hit grass. I open my eyes and see that I'm lying on a field of light blue grass. What the... how did I get here? I ask myself. Where is here, anyway?  
  
I sit up. I'm in my pajamas, and strangely there's blood all over them. Did I cut myself in my sleep by accident? How?  
  
I stand up, and notice my pajama bottom feels looser than usual. The drawstring's missing. That's odd. It was there when I fell asleep, I think. I hold up the bottoms with one hand as I start to walk, taking in the beautiful, if abstract, scenery. Origami flowers stand all around the edge of a field, almost like they're in the boundaries of a video game as a pre- rendered background, and the whispy clouds look almost edible. There's no sun, but it isn't dark. The sky seems to be backlit and is a beautiful lavender-purple in color.  
  
I look around. Besides one tree and myself, the field is empty. Whoever thought up the color scheme for this place must have been very creative, stoned out of their mind, or both. The tree is a creamy, almost fleshlike beige, with reddish-brown leaves. I walk over to it.  
  
There's two roots coming out of the tree right at its base, looking almost like a pair of legs. The left, if it was a leg, would be bent at the knee. The other is running just above the ground. A branch far too low for a normal tree seems like it's resting on the left root, and there's another one that is running almost parallel to the trunk. That looks comfortable. I think as I sit down between the two roots and lean back.  
  
"Hello, Ami." A familiar voice says, just behind my right ear.  
  
Under normal circumstances, I would be scared out of my wits, but this hardly qualifies as normal, so I'm not. I instead turn my head casually, and see that I'm now leaning against Makoto, in the pine green dress she wore when we took her to the sickbay, and she's leaning against a normally coloured tree. "Mako?" I say.  
  
"I'm here, Ami."  
  
"But... the tree..." I start confusedly.  
  
"My last name is Kino, you know."  
  
I laugh at that. "That was funny."  
  
We both stare out into space for a while. "What is this place?"  
  
"I went here when I first fell asleep from the THC. I couldn't remember what brought me here at first, but later I did. This place is like a last retreat, the limbo between Angels and Insects, Heaven and Hell. As soon as we die or get better, we leave. At least, that's my interpretation of it."  
  
"So I'm dying?"  
  
"It would seem so."  
  
Another long pause. "Do you have a theory as to why we're not in...I don't know, angel robes or something? Why we're still in our clothing?"  
  
"I think it's like the Matrix. We have a residual image of what we looked like before we came here, and that is what we are here."  
  
"Then this is inside our minds."  
  
"Maybe. Or it's another dimension. Or it is the Matrix."  
  
Another long pause. A bird with rainbow wings flies by. "Do you still feel it?"  
  
"Feel what?"  
  
"The THC."  
  
"No."  
  
I nod distantly, staring off into space. "Me neither."  
  
"You neither?" She repeats. "That's something I wouldn't expect you to say."  
  
I turn to look at her. "I replicated a bowl's worth of pot to help me sleep. Worked for a while, but I ended up waking up because of a nightmare anyway. I guess something happened to me between then and now that brought me here."  
  
"I hope Hyperion II's not under attack. To see something so large in so much pain..."  
  
"so much unnecessary pain..." I echo distantly, still trying to figure out what's going on.  
  
Another long pause. A light breeze blows around the blades of grass around us. "Have you left here since you first arrived?" I ask.  
  
"I don't remember it if I did. I just remember waking in the same place I started in, but don't remember ever falling asleep. I think I'm going in and out of a coma."  
  
"That must be weird..."  
  
"It was like I was back in corporeal reality, drifting in and out of consciousness. But instead of more unconscious than conscious I'm more awake than asleep, more here than there."  
  
"I wonder if you ever mumbled anything in one of your stints in near- awakeness."  
  
Another long pause. The clouds above us shift and change shape. "I might have called for you once, before I started coming here. I remember the first time I half-woke up, I expected you to be there. I was only awake for five seconds or so, but I remember clearly saying 'Ami...', even if I didn't say it clearly."  
  
Another long pause before, suddenly, I feel like I've been moved. "Do you feel that, Mako?"  
  
"Do I feel what?"  
  
"The entire universe seems to have... I don't know, shifted."  
  
"Oh. I felt that before, just before I woke up again. I think it signals when you're going to leave here."  
  
"But I don't want to leave. I want to stay here."  
  
"Some things you can't control. But you'll be back."  
  
"Why do you say that?"  
  
"I don't know how, but I just know."  
  
The feeling gets stronger. Small amounts of pain start to seep into my body from some unknown injury. My hands and wrists, specifically.  
  
I need to fight it. If I can fight it I'll be able to stay here and be with Mako.  
  
Stronger. I have to fight it. Pain. My wrists ache and sting.  
  
Stronger. I can't fight it. More pain. I curl into a ball. Much like my clone. I muse.  
  
It seems to be sucking me into a vortex. Cream and auburn and green and sky blue and purple and paper white, all blurring. Then a vast expanse of infinite nothing.  
  
Then here.  
  
Hospital bed. On Hyperion. Pain. Can't think. Arms. Arms hurt. Wrists. Blood.  
  
Raynor is there. "Hi." He says.  
  
"Hi." I manage.  
  
"Do you remember what you did?"  
  
"Wrists. Wrists hurt."  
  
"That's putting it mildly. You slit them clean open. Major damage. What the hell did you do that for, Ami?"  
  
"Confusion."  
  
"What? ...You were confused?"  
  
"No... Confusion... in me."  
  
Raynor paused. "Confusion possessed you?"  
  
I attempt a nod, but it doesn't really work. "Yes."  
  
"So it kept messing with you, and you started to feel guilty about something, and suddenly you're here-"  
  
"No... Not right away."  
  
Raynor pauses. "Not what right away?"  
  
"Not... not here right away. Field."  
  
"What field? What are you talking about?"  
  
"Blue field. Purple sky. Paper flowers. Mako is there."  
  
"...This is some near-death experience?"  
  
"Hoped you'd know."  
  
Still a fog around my brain. Not the best time. Makes me wonder why anti-THC hasn't been invented. "I guess it is, I mean Makoto's not any different now. You are, though. How did you get so much THC in your system? Something like 200ng?"  
  
"Replicated some. Smoked... smoked a bowl. Needed something to help me sleep."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Mako looked like she was having fun. Decided to join her."  
  
"More ways than one. She did look like she was having fun, didn't she? Well, you're not completely out of the woods yet, but you should be able to pull through..." Raynor's voice is fading.  
  
Feels like... being brought back. I close my eyes.  
  
Dark again.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
I'm being moved, I can feel it.  
  
Grass under me. I open them again, and I'm back in the field.  
  
I walk over to the tree again and give it a big hug. "Welcome back," it says as Makoto replaces it again. I can't tell exactly when or how she changes, but one second it's the tree and the next her.  
  
"I missed you."  
  
"So did I. You were only gone for three minutes, though."  
  
"Time slowed down for me. I was still high when I went back."  
  
"Still? You must have gone all-out with what you smoked."  
  
"I did."  
  
"That explains it, then."  
  
A long pause. "How did you know?" I ask.  
  
"Know what?"  
  
"That I'd be back?"  
  
"I could feel it."  
  
Another long pause. "Do you know why you could?"  
  
"Before you got here, I must have spent years thinking about that question, and I don't have a satisfactory concrete answer. You and I share a link, that's the best answer I have."  
  
"A link?"  
  
"A spiritual bond, something that stretches out through the aether and connects us together, no matter where we are. I think it's that bond that called me back as a spirit to help you."  
  
"That wasn't just a hallucination?"  
  
"No, I was there. There's a reason your pajamas are loose, you know."  
  
"Why, then? What happened to the drawstring?"  
  
"I got to you too late to stop you from slitting your wrists; however, I thought if I could get some rope to make two tourniquets it might be enough to save you."  
  
Another long pause. "How did you cut it?"  
  
"I don't know. It was like I said 'let this rope be cut', and lo it was cut."  
  
"Weird."  
  
A long pause. "It's not all that weird."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Something being spontaneously cut isn't as weird as a ghost being the one to spontaneously cut it."  
  
I nod in reply. "I wonder what the purpose of this link is."  
  
"Maybe each of us has some link with one other. A grand scheme pairing, almost. Everyone has their mate, their perfect match."  
  
"It'd be hard to find it in six billion people."  
  
"Maybe why the divorce rate is over half."  
  
"Maybe."  
  
And so for infinity we stand, me and my perfect match, holding each other in our arms and looking out in opposite directions along the horizon. Here I feel safe. Here I am home.  
  
I know this won't last forever. But now is all I need.  
  
Speak of the devil... "I'm moving again."  
  
"Goodbye. I'll be here for you when you come back."  
  
Blurring again. Then pain. Then back.  
  
Raynor's still there. "Hi." He says.  
  
"Mmm." I manage.  
  
"Did you go back?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"What was it like for you?"  
  
"Like I was myself. Normal. Only still in... in pajamas... covered in blood... drawstring missing."  
  
"Yeah, I was going to ask you about that. Did you change your mind halfway through?"  
  
"No... Mako... Mako saved me."  
  
Raynor looks confused. "Saved you?"  
  
I attempt a nod, but Raynor doesn't see it. "Yes."  
  
"How?"  
  
"Came to me as a spirit. Cut the drawstring somehow, then made tourniquets."  
  
"As a ghost." He adds skeptically.  
  
"Yes. She explained when... when I was back." I yawn. Right now talking is tiring.  
  
"How did she get from her bed on the third deck to your room on the fifth?"  
  
"Walked? Went through the ground?" I attempt a shrug. Didn't work. "Didn't say. When... if... I go back... I'll ask."  
  
Raynor nods thoughtfully. "I'll let you rest now." He says, getting up.  
  
"Thank you..." I say. But I don't feel sleepy. Still high... just not sleepy. I look at the clock. 6:36. I get myself comfortable and enjoy the feeling. Eventually I burn out and fall asleep. 


	7. Taking Over Me

Taking Over Me  
  
"But who can decide what they dream? And dream I do... I believe  
in you... I'll give up everything just to find you... I have to be  
with you to live, to breathe, you're taking over me..."  
  
A day has passed. I've returned home, thankfully, in time with little physical evidence I smoked any marijuana or attempted suicide. But something curious happened: The other Ami disappeared. Just poof and vanished out of her cell on Shakuras.  
  
I'm pretty introspective today. Haven't gone anywhere, haven't done anything. Just sat and stared at the walls. Is this depression? No, I've felt depression, and this is nothing like that. It just feels... empty. Like something has been robbed of me. I have no idea what of any number of things it is. Mako? Three litres of my own blood?  
  
The third option is the one I've done the most thinking about. Maybe it's not a physical thing I miss. Maybe I miss the carefree feeling of being high and not being weighed down by all the stress the last week has generated. But should I continue? I mean, I don't know any people that to my knowledge use anything, let alone sell it. How would I pay for it? And how would I bring a subject like this to my mother?  
  
So far in my soulsearching I've come up with, in order, a lack of payment because I could get copious amounts of it from the Hyperion II if I so wanted, ethically horrible as it may sound, and letting sleeping dogs lie as far as letting my mom know. I mean, she'd be upset, right? Not to mention she'd want to know why I got started. And no matter how elaborate the lie is, no matter how believable, it's still a lie and she'll know. And if I tell her the truth, she won't believe it anyway, and then where will I be?  
  
It all makes no sense. I never thought I'd say this, especially so soon, but I really could use a bowl or so right about now. Clear my head, get a good night's sleep, and start with a clean slate the next morning. Heck, it'll be the equivalent of buying a new slate. Nothing was ever written on it. It's pure.  
  
Purity. I guess it's not something I should be talking about, considering. I mean, my mother'll get angry when and if she finds out I do marijuana, and I still might not, but she'll eventually get over it. I hope. But the others... Minako, Rei, Usagi... what will they think? Especially the latter... the most pure, caring person I know... I don't know if she could accept that.  
  
I don't know if I should just put it off until Makoto gets better or not. I mean, she did say all that stuff about how marijuana being bad is all crap to her now, so it's a fair chance she'll continue if she survives. When she survives. And when she does, I could use the reaction from Usagi as sort of an acid test for how I should proceed.  
  
No, I can't do that to Makoto. She's far too good a friend to me to use as a guinea pig like that.  
  
I glance at the clock. 8:40. I could turn in now. Not like there's much I can do at this time of the evening.  
  
I get into my pajamas, remembering what happened the last time I was in them. There's no evidence of that, either-I have to commend Raynor's universe for its healing and cleaning technology.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
"I lie awake and try so hard not to think of you... but who can  
decide what they dream? And dream I do..."  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
I don't remember last night's dream, but I'm sure this is tonight's. I'm back in the Imaginary world where I met Makoto's spirit, only it's not Makoto's spirit there. Instead there's a small ice blue birdbath-like fountain, spouting the clearest, purest water I've ever seen. I half-expect a few birds to be perching on the edge or flittering around inside it but there aren't any. I don't suppose many birds go into comas.  
  
But if this is where you go, why doesn't anyone else remember this? Where are all the people in comas? Something else is filtering out the rest of the people. What is there about Makoto and I that sets us apart from everyone?  
  
I put this on the back burner of my mind... no, that's not the right metaphor. I just minimize the window.  
  
I walk over to the fountain and stare into the waters, and see my reflection.  
  
Hmm. That's strange. Red eyes.  
  
I wonder idly if there's a hypospray of The White Formula anywhere around... no, of course not, hyposprays don't go into comas. Nonetheless I look around, and lo and behold a hypospray is floating behind me. I pluck it from the air as if it was standing up on a shelf and deliver the solution in both eyes.  
  
I turn around to look back at my reflection, and end up looking into a full-body reflection. My clone is standing where the fountain was. Red- eyed as well. "Hello." She says.  
  
"Hello." I say. "Why are you here?"  
  
"Why am I here? You're why I'm here, that's why."  
  
"How could I be the reason you're here? Last we heard, you were with the Protoss. Yesterday we got the report you went missing."  
  
"Do you know when I went missing?"  
  
"No. When?"  
  
"12:32 AM. Does that time seem familiar to you?"  
  
"...Not particularly, why should... wait... I replicated that pipe and marijuana at about that time."  
  
"Exactly. The paradox effect sprung, and that's why I stand here."  
  
Paradox effect? "I'm not following."  
  
"Oh, come on, don't tell me I know more about temporal mechanics than you do." That sounds immensely odd, coming from, well, me.  
  
My clone takes my silence as confirmation, and continues. "The paradox effect happens when copies of a person appear in the same universe. One person disappears, and goes to their home universe, when that happens. But if something noticeable is changed, the two coexist."  
  
"So are you telling me that you were high when I took that first hit, and disappeared as a result?"  
  
"We knew that the difference between your version of the universe and our version of the universe was that we all smoked weed, and so Mengsk created a version of the camouflage virus that would only reproduce as many as they needed to maintain a constant amount of viral cells and THC, no more, no less. It was put into each of our Senshi, and kept each of us with a bit of a buzz, enough for the Paradox Effect not to notice but not enough to leave us slobbering idiots like your poor Makoto. Your smoking that bowl was a very, very large improbability, and was why Mengsk used that instead of something else. Besides, it was the easiest to maintain, and still kept us intelligible enough to know what we were doing."  
  
"Which was killing off each of us."  
  
"Not exactly. Mengsk remembers that Raynor still lives and breathes, and so decided to attempt to get you five incapacitated like Makoto is, but back in your home universe. Then we, camouflage virus taken out through an antiviral Mengsk's team of engineers worked round the clock to find, would come along as you five and take him out. With the Hyperion II down, the link would be broken and you five wouldn't be there as a threat. No harm to you, no harm to us, all harm to Raynor and his crew."  
  
"Why?" I whisper, almost a hiss, anger starting to bubble up inside me. "Why would you do such a deplorable thing?"  
  
"I don't answer to you. And when I wake up from this dream, I can come back here with some other change to exact revenge on you."  
  
I've never felt this angry. My own self is acting so heartless, so smug, as if she knows she holds all the cards and can't wave them in my face enough. "Ice dagger." I say, drawing a line in the air. I'm not transformed, but surprisingly it works.  
  
The dagger floats in midair. "What, you're going to avenge your beloved Makoto now? You won't. Because you know you're me, and I'm you. And nothing will ever separate that."  
  
"You're wrong."  
  
"I'm right, and you know it. Go ahead." A pause. "You won't do it."  
  
I grip the dagger in my right hand, feeling its power. "You said you're me and I'm you?"  
  
"You are, and I am."  
  
"Then you should know what it's like to despair over someone you love. You should know what it's like to have everything you ever held dear taken away from you." A long pause, as a little wind picks up and ruffles the sky grass around us. "And most of all, you should know what it was like for me later on that night."  
  
"Oh? And what was that?"  
  
I grab her right hand and slice her wrist open. She screams in pain and holds her arm at the forearm with her other hand, trying to stop the blood flow. I pull her left hand away from her right arm and slit the other wrist, again drawing a scream from my doppelganger. "The pain of having three litres of blood course out of you through your wrists."  
  
I push away from her and turn my back, walking away. Where, I don't know, just away. I hear the thud of her back on the grass, and her whimpers like the last time I used the dagger on her. "Hopefully you won't have to suffer long." I say coldly over my shoulder as I go.  
  
I walk for what seems like hours. I don't seem to be going anywhere, but I am going away from the other Ami, who must be dead by now.  
  
Eventually I come to a small lake. I look at my reflection again.  
  
Strange. I've still got red eyes.  
  
Something reminds me that I'm still in my dream. Maybe my subconscious is telling me what my decision should be about continuing to smoke marijuana using my eyes as a metaphor or example.  
  
I could use a swim about now, I think suddenly. As if I didn't think it at all, but it was just placed in my head by someone else. I shrug off the notion and take off my pajamas and, now nude, wade out into the clear water. The water's very warm for being outdoors, a little warmer than body temperature.  
  
I can see the other side of the lake, maybe a hundred metres from this side. Nothing I can't handle. I notice the lake's bottom is a shelf under me at the moment. It's about a metre and a half deep right now, and comes up to my neck if I stand flat-footed on the bottom.  
  
I turn and start floating on my back, staring up at the sky. The cotton candy clouds suddenly give me a pang of hunger. I guess this would be what people call the munchies, even though I'm not high. Not consciously, anyways. I notice my mouth is dry, also. What was that called, I know there was some jargon for it... the pasties, that's it. Kind of ironic, considering the fact that I'm in the middle of a lake.  
  
As if I really was high, I start to burn out. I close my eyes and drift off to sleep without realizing it.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
I wake up again, seemingly drenched with sweat. But... almost not, as if it's not sweat. It's almost like I really did go swimming in that Imaginary lake.  
  
I mull over the details of my dream, if it was a dream. I meet up with my clone again, we argue, I slit her wrists. I walk away, come to a lake, and start swimming. I float on my back for a while, then I'm back in my room safe and sound.  
  
That dream disturbs me. Not because of my actions-I've killed before, albeit not anyone separate from the Negaverse and let alone myself. At least, not successfully. What disturbed me is that Makoto, either as the tree or as the person, never appeared, even in the background. She wasn't there.  
  
I glance at the clock. 10:14. Good, Raynor'll be up, even with the four-hour delay. I hope she's better and not in the beyond. Please, whoever's up there, let her still live.  
  
I get dressed quickly, my sense of urgency growing with each passing second. "Raynor?" I say into my communicator.  
  
"Hi, Ami. You alright?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Listen, was there any change in Makoto's condition since we last spoke?"  
  
"What? No, she's still comatose in the sickbay. I would have paged you if anything happened. Why?"  
  
I'm not sure whether to sigh in relief or despair. I settle on frustration. "I had a dream where I was back in the Imaginary would with the paper flowers and such, and I met up with my clone, but Makoto wasn't there."  
  
"You met up with your clone? What happened?"  
  
"She explained to me why she disappeared, why she could exist in the same universe as I, and why she wanted to hurt our universe's version of Makoto, as well as the rest of us."  
  
"She did? Well, why, then?"  
  
"I'm on my way there, Raynor. I'll explain it there."  
  
"Alright. I'll be in the usual place. Raynor out."  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
"So why did she want to hurt Makoto?" Raynor asks, sitting across from me at the large Conference Room table.  
  
"To get us out of the way." I reply. "They definitely work for Mengsk, though it's not clear why. The plan was to put us in these comatose states for however long, in our universe presumably, and then do away with you and the Hyperion because he perceives you as the biggest threat to him."  
  
"But why me?"  
  
"I didn't find that out. She didn't say, and I didn't ask."  
  
"Oh. Well, how did she disappear from Protoss security?"  
  
"A dimensional safety known as the paradox effect. Basically if two almost-copies of a person exist in the same universe then one cancels out the other. She was still high enough to circumvent that effect because she had a modified Camouflage virus put in, also replicating the THC in her system but not enough to make her a 'slobbering idiot' like Makoto is."  
  
"This is way too complex for its own good." Raynor says after a slight pause to collect his thoughts. "Mengsk must be completely insane by now to cook up such a half-baked scheme-no pun intended. So how did the dream end? What happened to Ami Two?"  
  
"Whether it be in my dream or actually in the imaginary world I killed her. Slit her wrists like she drove me to doing. After that, I started walking, walked for hours in fact, and then came to a lake and decided to go for a swim. I fell asleep floating in the middle of the lake on my back and woke up from there."  
  
Raynor tosses this around in his mind. "Your last name, Mizuno, means something in Japanese, doesn't it?"  
  
"Roughly, 'Of the Water'."  
  
"Alright... I'm just wondering. Nothing really specific, I'm just trying to figure out why you'd go for a swim out of nowhere."  
  
"It's a dream. Dreams don't have to make a lot of sense."  
  
"True, but this one's too close to recent events for comfort."  
  
"There's still the matter of why, if it is my dream, and if I do miss Makoto this much, that she doesn't appear in my dream, as a tree or herself."  
  
"What? As a tree, did you say?"  
  
"Yeah. When I went to that world the first time, Makoto was there originally as a cream-coloured tree with auburn leaves-the trunk being her body and the leaves her hair. Her last name, Kino, means 'Of the trees', in case you're wondering."  
  
"Oh. Makes sense. Did your clone appear as a body of water or something?"  
  
"A small fountain. Like a birdbath or something."  
  
"This is some messed up universe."  
  
"Yeah. And so's the Imaginary one."  
  
"Why do you keep calling it the 'Imaginary' universe?"  
  
I try to remember why, and come up blank. "I'm not completely sure. It seems to be... I don't know, fitting."  
  
"Hmm..."  
  
"Hmm? Hmm what?"  
  
"Call it a hunch, but maybe the two things are related, the word 'imaginary' and the world itself. Computer?"  
  
The computer blipped. "Please search... what year are you in?"  
  
"2003."  
  
"Please search somewhere around the year 2003 for a connection between the word 'imaginary' and the world Ami is about to describe. Ami?"  
  
"A field of paper flowers, candy clouds, sky blue grass and a purple sky."  
  
"Working..." The computer replies. "The nearest match is a song by the band Evanescence, named Imaginary."  
  
"How close is this?" Raynor asks.  
  
"The song does not mention blue grass, or grass of any kind for that matter; however its chorus does mention all else Ami described."  
  
"Interesting."  
  
"Is this important at all?"  
  
"No-at least I don't think it's of any importance-but I find it odd that an actual place exists that matches a song made 500 years ago by this universe's time."  
  
"Evanescence... that's a very odd sounding word. Computer, what does 'evanescence' mean?"  
  
"Evanescence. The act of fading away, similar to a ghost. To disappear into nothingness."  
  
"To fade away, like Ami Two did." Raynor says. "This makes even less sense, and we've got more questions now than we do before the dream."  
  
"Maybe there's something else that happened that relates to another song from this band. Hmm... something... Any mention of suicide?"  
  
"Affirmative, in the track Tourniquet."  
  
I look at Raynor. "Too close." I say.  
  
"What tracks are Imaginary and Tourniquet?" Raynor says.  
  
"Seven and six respectively."  
  
"Where in Tourniquet is suicide mentioned?" I ask.  
  
"It is the last word in the lyric, at 3:28 of 4:38."  
  
"So around the end of the song, at which point... does Tourniquet have a lead-in to Imaginary?"  
  
"Affirmative, a violin piece."  
  
"Hmm."  
  
"What else is there?" I think out loud.  
  
"Confusion?" Raynor tries.  
  
"Confusion appears in track 1, Going Under."  
  
"Track 1? That makes no sense."  
  
"Maybe it does." Raynor says. "I mean, clones would be kind of confusing, and that happened in the beginning, right? Computer, give us the lyrics for the stanza that mentions confusion."  
  
Rock music starts up. A woman sings the lyrics in a low voice. "Blurring and stirring the truth and the lies, so I don't know what's real- so I don't know what's real and what's-don't know what's real and what's not... always confusing the thoughts in my head, so I can't trust myself anymore... I'm dying again..."  
  
"That's odd."  
  
"Wait, this band's got one major single out, Bring me to Life." I say. "What track is that?"  
  
"Track 2." The computer replies.  
  
"Computer, is there anything involved in the current situation involving my universe that would correspond to the lyrics in Bring me to Life?"  
  
"Negative."  
  
"Hmm. That's odd."  
  
"Let's try again, maybe it's just that track. Anything in track 3?" Raynor asks.  
  
"Track 3 is called Everybody's Fool, and following the current pattern would seem to correspond with Makoto's being incapacitated by the impostor Ami, as the second verse and chorus is" The same singer comes on with a different rock song singing "Look, here she comes now... bow down and stare in wonder... oh how we love you... no flaws when you're pretending... but now I know it never was and never will be... you don't know how you've betrayed me... and somehow you've got everybody fooled..."  
  
The computer resumes speaking in its normal voice. "The song seems to be from Ami's point of view, as is Tourniquet and Imaginary, and to a degree Going Under."  
  
"This is completely messed up. Completely." I comment, shaking my head in near-disbelief.  
  
"Yeah, but we've uncovered a pattern." Raynor replies. "Anything in track 4?"  
  
"Track 4, My Immortal, has a theme of a spirit or body that haunts the person whose point of view is the lyrics. This applies to Ami again in relation to Makoto being in a comatose state. It is also a slow song, which may represent the lack of activity for a short time in the same time period."  
  
"Any ideas why the songs apply to me?" I ask.  
  
"The lead singer's name is Amy Lee; no other mention of an Ami in the album."  
  
"One more messed up point. Track 5?" Raynor continues.  
  
"Track 5 is known as Haunted, which has a mention of hunting in the lyrics but otherwise negligible relation to the situation, now or at the chronological point in the events-the song is, however, faster and contains more energy than My Immortal, which could represent Ami's chasing down her clone."  
  
"Well, that's a maybe, but still, there's a pattern. Track 8?"  
  
"Called Taking Over Me, and relates to the current or most recent situation through several examples, including mentioning dreaming of a person in the first verse and a theme of a person becoming the person's entire reason for existence."  
  
"So this is now... so maybe if this continues on we could glean something that'll happen next. Play track 9 and extrapolate what may happen."  
  
"Track 9 is known as Hello." The computer said before starting to play the track. 


	8. Hello

Hello  
  
A distorted guitar note fades in and out, and then a kind of angsty and depressing piano piece starts. "Playground schoolbell rings again... rain clouds come to play again... has no one told you she's not breathing?"  
  
"Oh... no... Makoto..." I say softly, suddenly filled with an intense sadness. I feel like I just heard her last breath. Tears start to flow.  
  
"Hello, I'm your mind giving you someone to talk to... Hello..."  
  
The song is one of the most depressing songs I've ever heard, even without the context hitting so close to home. "If I smile and don't believe I know I'll wake from this dream... Hello, I'm the lie, living for you so you can hide..."  
  
Even though I'm still trying to regain some semblance of composure, I'm trying to figure out the lyrics. Everything from this verse only serves to confuse me. What does it mean?  
  
The song goes into a crescendo, only really marked with the singer's voice hitting what must be the high note of the song, and the addition of a violin during the bridge and what must be the last verse. "Suddenly I know I'm not sleeping... Hello... I'm still here, all that's left of yesterday..."  
  
The song goes finishes its piano solo and ends. "Your findings, computer?" Raynor says softly.  
  
"Makoto will die in the near future, or at least worsen in her condition. This event will either force Ami into insanity or she will go back to the Imaginary world again, talking with Makoto's spirit. This may be preceded by a period of denial, as is mentioned in the second verse. The 'lie living for you so you can hide' is an unknown; its meaning, if any, in this situation is unclear."  
  
"I only hope it's wrong... Computer, what is the chance of what you are saying to be correct?"  
  
"There is approximately a 42% chance of Ami going insane and a 63.6% chance of her talking to Makoto's spirit, but Makoto's demise or the worsening of her condition is definite given the parameters."  
  
"This is surreal." I comment, staring out into space, my voice a whisper, the tears still flowing. I feel like everything I ever wanted, everything I ever could hope and dream for, is gone. It all doesn't matter.  
  
"I wish it were surreal, Ami. I wish these things didn't happen and that everyone could just... just coexist peacefully." A long pause. What use is there for more words? "I was a pacifist during my teenage years."  
  
"What changed you?"  
  
"My father was killed by the Confederates. Through some digging I found out he was going to expose a lot of corruption in the old Terran Confederacy, but never got the chance. I joined them to sort of pick up where he left off."  
  
"That's quite the noble cause, Raynor."  
  
"Thanks, Ami."  
  
My watch beeps. "Oh, shoot. I have to go. Prior engagements."  
  
"Alright then. Any developments-"  
  
"I'm the first to know."  
  
Raynor nods. I get out my minicomputer. "DigiPort open!"  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
Another day has passed and I'm starting to wonder if the song's lyrics really do predict Makoto's demise. The Camo virus is still in her system. Raynor says it's the longest it's stayed in a person's system with no change in their state, and I believe him. It's been an eternity to all of us.  
  
I now dream about that place that Makoto and I shared. It haunts me, in a way. I'm not actually there. I know this in my dreams. It feels different. I'm there now, and there's still the paper flowers, the blue grass, the purple sky with cotton candy clouds... it's just not the place I know.  
  
Makoto's there, and we're both lying on the grass, staring up at the sky, watching the clouds go by. Peaceful.  
  
The purple sky turns black. Makoto disappears. A 2-D whip like the one on the symbol cracks and I see a flash of light before I wake up with a scream.  
  
What I need is another good pipeful of marijuana. Yes, I am saying I would enjoy stoning myself again.  
  
Always the ones you least expect, I think with a smile as I log on to MSN this morning, at 10:56. I wonder if I could replicate some quickly while I'm at the Hyperion next and smoke it back here. Get a little bottle of that White Formula while I'm at it. That'd work, wouldn't it?  
  
Rei's online. I've got to talk to someone about this.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
Ami Mizuno: Hi.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Hi! How's my favorite suicidal maniac?  
  
Ami Mizuno: Hey... --;  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Sorry. Last I'll speak of it.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Don't worry about it. It's the least I deserve.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: What makes you say that?  
  
Ami Mizuno: Sigh  
  
Ami Mizuno: Because I let myself be tricked.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Because I wasn't strong enough.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Because I gave in.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Now that's not the Ami I know. You're not yourself.  
  
Ami Mizuno: I don't want to be myself. Being myself hurts too much.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Yeah. I can relate to that.  
  
Ami Mizuno: There's something Raynor didn't tell you about me when I tried to kill myself, though.  
  
Ami Mizuno: It wasn't just the Confusion Card acting on my emotions and thoughts.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: What? What else was there?  
  
Ami Mizuno: Let's just say I know how Makoto felt before she fell asleep.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: ...  
  
Pyromaniac #216: You were on pot when you... whoa.  
  
Ami Mizuno: I know.  
  
Ami Mizuno: I thought it'd clear my system, you know, start fresh the next morning.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Something in my subconscious, or simply the Confusion card, made me have a nightmare I don't remember, and made me wake up not four hours later.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Then it started talking to me, and I couldn't stop myself.  
  
Ami Mizuno: ...Rei? You still there?  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Yeah, I'm here.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: I'm just trying to find what I need to say, because I know I've got to say something to avoid putting you in the Rei Ayanami cloistered mood you were in a day ago.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Oh.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Sorry about that, by the way. I was doing a lot of soul searching and introspective thought and all that...  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Perfectly understandable.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Are you still in danger of going back to that frame of mind?  
  
Ami Mizuno: That's the least of my problems.  
  
Ami Mizuno: I'm seriously contemplating continuing to do marijuana.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: You're WHAT?!  
  
Ami Mizuno: I know. If I take a step away from the situation and see the big picture I say the same thing.  
  
Ami Mizuno: But I guess it had a certain appeal even back when I did the project on it two years ago.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Now I know what it's like.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: And?  
  
Ami Mizuno: Sorry, Rei. One of those je ne sais quoi things.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: I hate those. --;;;  
  
Ami Mizuno: Lol.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Closest thing is... hmm... a layer of fog around your brain and feeling like your entire body fell asleep.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Ordinary things become fascinating. Blood vessels open up.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: I see.  
  
Ami Mizuno: And then the je ne sais quoi... That little something that makes being, well, stoned, worth it.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: There's always that je ne sais quoi, isn't there?  
  
Ami Mizuno: Seems to be the prevailing thing in everything, ne?  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Hai. So how tempted are you to do pot again?  
  
Ami Mizuno: Pretty damn tempted, if I may say so.  
  
Ami Mizuno: But there's still that little feeling in the back of my head that says "this is wrong, I shouldn't be doing this".  
  
Pyromaniac #216: I hate that guy. Always so righteous about everything, it's always got to be the "right" thing to do.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Lol. I hear that.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Whatever the outcome, I hope it is the "right" thing to do.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Even if it isn't to anyone else.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Ami, I've never seen you this depressed.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Are you still feeling guilty about Makoto?  
  
Ami Mizuno: Not exactly.  
  
Ami Mizuno: I met up with her.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: You... met up with her? Like, her spirit met yours?  
  
Ami Mizuno: Yes.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Where?  
  
Ami Mizuno: Makoto called it the place between living and dead, where people go when they're in transit between this life and the next.  
  
Ami Mizuno: It's too surreal to be an actual place.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Purple sky with cotton-candy clouds... light blue grass... origami flowers... Makoto first appeared as a beige tree with auburn leaves.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: ...  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Wow. I really don't know what to say.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Then don't. I have no idea as to my sanity levels right now.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Understandable, even without all the context. Wait... paper flowers, candy clouds and a purple sky...  
  
Ami Mizuno: The Imaginary reference?  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Yep.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Most of the album save for Bring me to Life seems to correspond to what happened since the clones came in.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Oo so where are we?  
  
Ami Mizuno: "Hello".  
  
Pyromaniac: Oh... no... don't tell me...  
  
Ami Mizuno: Yeah, me and Raynor heard that lyric too.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: I hope they can do something for her.  
  
Ami Mizuno: I do too. Hey, Rei?  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Yeah?  
  
Ami Mizuno: You got the Imaginary reference... that mean you have Fallen?  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Indeed I do.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Could you wire over an mp3 of Imaginary for me?  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Sorry. Don't have anything to rip the tracks.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: No iTunes like Mako.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Oops...  
  
Ami Mizuno: Nono, It's alright.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: You sure?  
  
Ami Mizuno: The pain has to stop soon. And when it does I'll be myself again.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Yeah, I understand.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Oh, shoot. I gotta go, Rei, I've got some errands to run.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Alright. Will you be back on later today?  
  
Ami Mizuno: Yeah, or I'll page you and the others. I've got to get out of this house before I go insane.  
  
Ami Mizuno: (Read: More insane than I already am.)  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Lol. See you later.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
"Oh, Mako... why you? Why now?"  
  
I sit on a chair beside Makoto's bed. Still no change, and it's been five days. Something should have happened. Nobody knows what to do in this situation, simply because it's never came up. They're just leaving her alone, making sure she doesn't get worse. I just hope, if she dos get worse, they can do something for her. I pray.  
  
"I'm going to find out who's at the top of this twisted pyramid, and I'm going to kill them myself." I whisper to the comatose Makoto lying before me.  
  
"I'll save you the research. I know who's behind this." A voice says from behind me.  
  
I turn around and look at the sad-eyed Jim Raynor. "You do? Who is it? Why did they do this?"  
  
"That last one is anyone's guess, but the first and second I can help you with. Yes, and 'Emperor Arcturus Mengsk I', leader of the Terran confederacy."  
  
"He's at the top? How do you know it's him?"  
  
"The red whip symbol. It's his trademark from the Sons of Korhal. He only uses it for a high-profile calling card now."  
  
"It's all so senseless... and why this method? Why not something easier and not so needlessly complicated?"  
  
"Who knows what the power-mad tyrant was thinking when he ordered it done that way? The man's been crazy even back when I knew him, before the emperorship he lied, cheated and stole his way to the top. It all got to his head."  
  
"You knew him?"  
  
"I knew him. Worked for him at one point, thinking we were going to take down the confederation and make a better system, not something so... so corrupt. I was wrong. he backstabbed me, took over, and then generally did whatever the hell he wanted because hey, he was Emperor, who was going to stop him? And ever since I've been plotting my revenge on the bastard." His tone of voice got more bitter with each passing sentence. Lots of bad blood yet to be spilt here.  
  
I nod. "We'll get him back, Raynor. I promise, whether it be you or me, we'll get our revenge."  
  
"Yeah, we will."  
  
An awkward silence follows. How do you go from there in a conversation? What's supposed to follow a promised end to a tyrannical regime? "Hey, weren't you supposed to be back in your home universe now?"  
  
I look at my watch. "Oh yeah! I forgot about that! Shoot, I'm late again!"  
  
"Don't worry, you'll be alright. The turbolift'll get you to the Transporter room fast."  
  
"I'm sure it will. Bye, Raynor."  
  
"Bye. And don't forget the promise."  
  
"I won't."  
  
I turn and walk out the door to the Sickbay and then into the nearby Turbolift, which is blessedly empty. One major problem I don't have to deal with. "Deck 5." I say.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
I open the package of incense sticks and take one out, putting it in its holder. I take the lighter and light it, letting the top of the stick burn until it glows red, then blow it out. There, I think as it starts filling the room with its scent. Dragon's Blood, it's called.  
  
Now to take care of why I lit the incense in the first place.  
  
I take the largish bag of ground pot and put some in the pipe. My hands are shaking slightly. Will this time be any different?  
  
Too late to argue with myself now. I light the contents of the bowl and inhale, holding the smoke in for as long as I can. I exhale, and nothing comes out. Good. No smoke, no smell, no problem.  
  
Another hit. Same result. I take hit after hit, and by the time I'm done...I'm done. Done as in finished, and done as in ridiculously high.  
  
I look at the clock. 8:35. Would it seem that suspicious if I just fell asleep now? Probably. I log onto my computer again and see if anyone's online. Rei is, and so's Usagi. I decide to talk to Rei. She listened to me before.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
Ami Mizuno: Hi! n.n  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Hi!  
  
Pyromaniac #216: So? What of the green?  
  
Ami Mizuno: I'm on one of the candy clouds as we type.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: o.o... you're high now?  
  
Ami Mizuno: I'm about at what Minako Two was.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: That coherent, eh? Aren't you worried about your mom finding out?  
  
Ami Mizuno: No, not really. Very little smoke escaped my lungs so very little is there to have any smell in the air.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Besides, she's not here and I've got some Dragon's Blood incense lit.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Dragon's Blood? That's my favorite one!  
  
Ami Mizuno: Yeah, me too!  
  
Pyromaniac #216: So is there anything you left out in that list you typed earlier today?  
  
Ami Mizuno: Refresh my slightly-less-than-working memory... what list?  
  
Pyromaniac #216: You know, that one about what happens when you're high.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Oh yeah. ;   
  
Ami Mizuno: Creativity sometimes spikes, red eyes, case of the munchies, your mouth gets really dry sometimes...  
  
Ami Mizuno: I think that's it.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: All from one chemical. Insane.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Which brings me to why I'm high in the first place.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: What?  
  
Ami Mizuno: Sanity. To keep it, I've got to drive these thoughts out of my head. And this weed's sure doing the trick.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Lol.  
  
Ami Mizuno: You know, this'd be a lot more fun with company...  
  
Pyromaniac #216: ...  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Are you asking what I think you're asking?  
  
Ami Mizuno: Yeah.  
  
Ami Mizuno: If you say no I completely understand.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: ...And you're sure nobody'll know?  
  
Ami Mizuno: Mom's on an overnight shift today, and she's going to be pretty tired when she gets home. We could have the Red Eyes from Hell and she'd not notice.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Besides, you sleep off the effects to get rid of them, so when we fall asleep it'll be like nothing happened.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: ...I guess I could, I mean, you seem fine, right?  
  
Ami Mizuno: Do I?  
  
Pyromaniac #216: I mean you're not all evil or anything.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Oh. No, I'm not evil. Plotting revenge on the guy who ordered the hit on Makoto, but not evil.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: How's that coming along?  
  
Ami Mizuno: So far I've got 'I'm going to kill him'. I think I'm just going to play it by ear most of the way.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Ok...  
  
Ami Mizuno: Work in progress.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: I see.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Be there in a bit.  
  
Ami Mizuno: See ya!   
  
Pyromaniac #216: See you!  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
"Hi, Ami." Rei says as she comes in the door.  
  
"H-hi, Rei. How's life?" I reply.  
  
"Not bad, considering. So where did you...?" she trails off.  
  
"In my room."  
  
"Alright then."  
  
"Onwards." I say as we both walk up the stairs to my room.  
  
"Does everything feel surreal to you?" Rei asks.  
  
"Kind of... I think... uh, I think it's a novelty effect at the moment, but on the other hand it doesn't sss... eem to be going away."  
  
"Well, one thing that seems to be going away is the red eyes. I never saw any redness."  
  
"I got some of the StarCraft equivalent of Visine with the pot. Takes out the redness and the stretchy feeling you get in them."  
  
"So that's where you got it."  
  
"Yeah... you think I just happen to know a drug dealer?"  
  
"True." She says as we both walk into my room and I flop down on my bed. She takes the computer chair.  
  
"You want to just talk for a while, get it over with... what's your pleasure?"  
  
"Get it over with, I guess."  
  
"That's the answer I was looking for." I say as I sit up and pick up the already-packed pipe from the dresser. "Packed it while you were on your way here."  
  
"Well, you're prepared, if anything... don't I need a lighter to light this?"  
  
"I thought you'd just look at it and it'd spark." I say with a giggle.  
  
"Funny." She says as I hand her the lighter. "Thanks. " She takes it, sparks the bowl and inhales.  
  
"Keep it in for as long as you can. If you have to, inhale some normal air to dilute the smoke." I instruct. She nods.  
  
Ten seconds pass and she finally exhales, then starts coughing. I hand her a bottle of ginger ale I've already opened for her and she downs a good third of it. "...I don't feel anything." She says.  
  
"It takes a minute or so to kick in. Take another hit, it speeds it up a little."  
  
"Isn't it your turn?"  
  
"I had one of those to myself already. It's all yours."  
  
"Ah. Thanks."  
  
She takes another hit. While she's holding the second in the first seems to catch up with her because she shakes her head like she's trying to get the cobwebs out. Another few seconds pass, and she exhales. "Whoa. This... this is weird." She says lazily, making me smile.  
  
"Fun though, isn't it?" I reply.  
  
"Yeah, kinda..."  
  
I mentally count off ten seconds. "What were we talking about?"  
  
"How fun this feeling is." She replies.  
  
"Yeah, you definitely need more."  
  
"Why do you say that?"  
  
"You could answer the question."  
  
"Oh." She says, starting to chuckle. "Bottoms up."  
  
Another hit. "Go ahead and take the whole thing, I'm done."  
  
"Alright." She says, then powersmokes the rest like I did.  
  
"And?" I ask.  
  
"And I'm stoned dead." She says, making a great show of slumping down in the chair. "Wow, this is fun."  
  
"Yeah..." I reply.  
  
I resume my position flopped down on the bed. "So now what?" She asks.  
  
"Now what what?"  
  
"What happens now? What do we do?"  
  
"Whatever. I wouldn't operate anything dangerous, otherwise we're free to do anything."  
  
Rei's communicator blipped. "Does this count as dangerous?" I shake my head. "Good. Hold on." She says as she flips it open. "Hai?"  
  
"Fitting greeting." I mumble, making her giggle.  
  
"Hi, Rei. Just making sure you didn't spontaneously combust just now. Where are you?"  
  
"I'm at Ami's. Why?"  
  
"Because a second ago you were here and-oh my god, I was next."  
  
"You were next? Damn, Minako, you've got to get to Raynor now. We need to get you some... uh... some security."  
  
"You alright, Rei? You're acting like my clone last time we saw her... no, you're not... are you?"  
  
"I am."  
  
"Like Mako?"  
  
"Nonono, nothing as deadly as that-but I am pretty up there."  
  
"Wow. Always the people you least expect."  
  
"That's what I said." I reply to Minako's portrait.  
  
"Was my clone baked when she saw you?" Rei asks.  
  
"No... at least, I don't think so. Her eyes weren't red."  
  
"That doesn't mean anything. There's this StarCraftian Visine stuff that instantly clears your eyes. Watch." She focuses on me again. "You got any more of that?"  
  
"It's called The White Formula, and yes. Here." I hand her the hypospray and she delivers the solution in both eyes, holding the communicator so Minako could see.  
  
"There. Clear as crystal, ne?"  
  
"Hai. So she could have been anviled. What does it mean?"  
  
"It means she's from the same universe, I suppose, and that if she was there's probably some correlation between being high and having clones in universes."  
  
How did her brain get to that so frigging quickly? "Hey, and I didn't even have to explain it to you!" I exclaim.  
  
"What? You mean I'm right? I guessed!"  
  
"Yeah. There's this thing that has it that if one clone is high and one not they can coexist, but if both are sober or baked one cancels out the other."  
  
"I get what you're saying. You got that, Mina?" Rei says to Mina.  
  
"I heard it, yeah. We going to Raynor?"  
  
"We're going to Raynor. Unless you feel safe sleeping there for one night so me and Ami could sober up a little before bringing this new info to the table."  
  
"Uh, no, I'm paranoid out of my wits. I-YAAAH!" She screams, and I hear a high-pitched thud as the communicator hits the floor.  
  
One or two thwacking sounds, and then a good 15 seconds of garbled whiny apologetic-sounding speech. "Told you. I almost kicked Artemis out the window."  
  
"Send him our condolences, unless you're bringing him with you. We're calling ahead, so in the meantime try to find anything the clone may have dropped and for God's sake if you find anything with a red symbol on it pick it up like a CD and put it in something plastic."  
  
"Yeah. Venus out."  
  
"Alright then... To, uh... to Raynor."  
  
"We gotta page, girl." I remind her, getting out my D3 as I do. "I got it."  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
Ami Mizuno: Yo, Rayn.  
  
RynØr: On second thought I'm not asking.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Short form. I'm in a hurry.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Minako almost met the same fate Makoto did. The Rei Clone came to her house.  
  
RynØr: Døk'Sha. Bring her here.  
  
Ami Mizuno: She's on her way and so are we.  
  
RynØr: Alright, see you here. I'll be in the conference room.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Done. Bye.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
"Alright then, we're gone." I say, getting out my minicomputer.  
  
"And not just to Raynor's. DigiPort Open!"  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
"Now that you're here..." Raynor says as we DigiPort in. "Minako?"  
  
"...She's not here?" Rei says. "Oh shit, what if-"  
  
I'm already flipping open the communicator. "Y'ello?" a very red-eyed Mina says from the communicator.  
  
"Oh... no... Mina... you didn't..."  
  
"It was symbol-side down on Artemis's fur. I t-tried to take it off of him and it got me. I was too gone to get to my communicator b-by the time I realized... uh... realized... wh-what was going on..."  
  
"No..." Tears are welling up in my eyes. "Damn it... Damn it all!"  
  
"She's got the Camo/THC thing too?"  
  
I nod. "Then we're coming back to get you." Raynor says to my communicator.  
  
"I'll be here, Raynorbow."  
  
"We're coming. Mercury out." I close the link.  
  
Raynor mouths 'Raynorbow?' "Don't look at us, you can be pretty creative when you're baked. I think she's trying to make a pun off of Rainbow."  
  
"Whatever. Let's go."  
  
"DigiPort Open!"  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
We DigiPort directly to Minako's bedroom. Raynor brought his rifle, but loaded it with nonlethal sleeper shots and fitted a silencer on it. "Minako!" I say, rushing to her side.  
  
She never even made it back to her bed. She had collapsed in the middle of her floor, her head thankfully landing on the throw rug. No damage from the fall, but what's done is done. She's permafried like Mako. "That'd be me." She says, an inhuman, almost demented grin on her face.  
  
"We're here, Minako." Rei says softly.  
  
"Hey, Ami? My computer crashed." Minako rambles. "Do you have a patch for Windows? Maybe in the closet?"  
  
"What?" I ask confusedly.  
  
Raynor seems to get this stoned ramble more than the rest of us because he immediately turns and perforates Minako's closet with the sleeper shots, making me and Rei jump. My clone's unconcious form falls from what's left of the door and hits the ground, another black patch in her hand. "Damn, Raynor!" Rei says. "Warn us about that next time!"  
  
"Even stoned she knows when to use subterfuge. She was warning us about someone in the closet with another patch for one of us."  
  
"Yeah." Minako mumbles. "Good thing you picked up on it. Now, about fixing the bug in Windows..."  
  
Raynor points to the window. "No... my computer's really crashed."  
  
"Oh." He says flatly.  
  
"So's your brain." Rei observes.  
  
"You try being coherent while high..."  
  
"Here I am, in that case."  
  
"You're-" Raynor starts. "-You know, never mind. What you do on your own time is your business. But I think we've got to go, and soon."  
  
"Why is that?"  
  
"Well, unless Minako's parents are out, and even if they were, I think we're going to have a hell of a time explaining the closet..." I explain.  
  
"Oh. Yes." I agree.  
  
I turn around to ask Minako if her parents are out, but she's already asleep. "Let's go, then." I say, getting out my minicomputer and D3 and throwing an arm around the supine Minako.  
  
Kinda reminds me of the other Minako. I giggle a little at the memory of her comments in that alley at the Crown... and aside from the murderous intentions and, er, active love life, I guess now I am her Ami.  
  
"DigiPort Open!" 


	9. My Last Breath

My Last Breath  
  
"Holding my last breath safe inside myself... are all my  
thoughts of you, sweet raptured light?... it ends here tonight..."  
  
"Alright, this has gone on far too long." Raynor says in the conference room, where the senior staff and healthy Senshi are. "We've got to take this fight to Mengsk, or we're going to end up with all the Senshi comatose. Where's his main base now? Still Augustgrad?"  
  
An ensign comes in the door. "Sir?"  
  
"I thought I said this was a closed meeting! Nothing but emergencies warrant an interruption!"  
  
"This probably qualifies, sir. I suggest you take this comm signal."  
  
A look of realization appears on Raynor's face, and he looks at us, then the ensign. Then, as one, everyone gets up and goes out the door, single-file, to the bridge. "Put it on." Raynor says.  
  
The visage of none other than Emperor Arcturus Mengsk I appears on the screen.  
  
"Why, hello, Raynor. And all your girls. Pity, I only see three there? Where's the other two?" He says.  
  
"Shut up about that, Mengsk. What the hell do you want?" Raynor replies.  
  
"Now, you know it'd be pretty hard to do both. What I want is a nice clean war between your army and my army."  
  
"Oh, cloak-and-dagger too good for you now? You've settled for a war with an army unprepared for your forces?"  
  
"Would you not abandon a plan that wasn't working? Anyways, for this little war, we need a battlefield. And lo and behold, Braxis! War-torn already, no allies waiting on the planet... you know, in case you're shot down..."  
  
Raynor's eyes go to saucers. "Ensign, shields u-"  
  
A blast rocks the Hyperion and everyone is thrown to one side. Mengsk starts cackling as he closes the link. "Damage report!" Raynor yells over the din that erupted.  
  
"We've got major damage to the tail end of the ship, maybe a third power at max! Barely enough for a controlled landing!"  
  
"Do it! Mengsk wants a war, we'll give him a war. Get the infantry up and outfitted! He's going to come at us hard!"  
  
"Hull breaches on decks 72 to 80!"  
  
"Patch them!"  
  
"Interstellar comms down! Life support failing on decks 74 to 80! We're going down!"  
  
"All hands, we are going down, repeat, we are going down, stand by! We have power for a controlled descent!" Raynor says over the comm system.  
  
Small fires break out as the main damaged piece of the ship break up and hit the front of the ship. The Hyperion is steadily going down, and we'll hit in about 15 seconds. "All hands, brace for impact!"  
  
We all brace on the bridge. When we hit ground, man do we hit ground. Everything and everyone on the bridge are tossed around like toys. Screaming. Pain. Black.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
I wake up again on the sky grass. Shakily, I get to my feet. I look over myself-one or two scratches on my right arm, one or two on my right cheek, but nothing of any significant damage. I look around and notice this isn't the normal Imaginary. This is more like the Imaginary where I met Ami Two and where I dreamt myself into. Only this time there's a giant crown in the middle of the field. "Ami?" Rei says. "Where are we?"  
  
"This is the Imaginary world." I reply. "Only not."  
  
"Not? How not?"  
  
"I don't know. Another damned je ne sais quoi thing. It feels different."  
  
"Oh, for heaven's sake!" She says in mock anger, then lets the subject drop. "You still baked?"  
  
"No. You?"  
  
"No."  
  
"I wasn't when I went into the real Imaginary world either."  
  
"I see." She says, despite her confused look. "Weird contradiction in terms, there."  
  
"How else am I supposed to describe it?"  
  
Rei nods in agreement. "This place is huge." She says, looking around. "I wonder if anyone else is here."  
  
"I don't think so. And if they did, they would have heard us here by now and come over, right?"  
  
"I heard."  
  
We spin around, and stare at Arcturus Mengsk.  
  
¯¯¯---  
  
"You." I say, my eyes narrowing.  
  
"Me." He replies. "How are you two? Not as perpetually out of it as I had wanted, I would bet."  
  
"Indeed." Rei says. "Why is that, anyway? There are a million different ways you could have killed us more efficiently."  
  
"True." Mengsk says. "But as Raynor said, I was crazy when he knew me..."  
  
"That may be, but-" I start before something clicks in my mind. "How did you know that?"  
  
"Simple surveillance equipment, about a cubic micron."  
  
"Where?"  
  
"A lot closer than you may think, Ami. A lot closer."  
  
"What does-wait-the device is planted on me?"  
  
"Got it in one. Ever since that incident in the Crown Arcade."  
  
"So that was planned?"  
  
"Oh yes. Didn't the other Ami explain to you?"  
  
"Alright, that's just plain impossible. That was a dream."  
  
"Not entirely, but close. Once you're in the Imaginary universe for the first time, it comes back if you go into a state similar to the one you were in the first time. In your case, you were stoned solid and in a coma. Asleep is almost the same thing, so that one day you were in enough of a THC-induced leaveover and in a deep enough sleep to bring about the alternate Imaginary universe that you stand in today."  
  
"So why was Ami Two in that universe?"  
  
"She was also asleep, and also baked. It took a few tries to get the right mixture of DNA fragments so our Senshi didn't end up like your Minako and Makoto. A few times Ami and Usagi Two went into a coma temporarily, and told us about this universe they went to."  
  
"I still don't get how you know about that when I killed Ami Two."  
  
"Well, her corporeal body was with us. We have our own ways of traveling the dimensional planes too, you know. So we put Ami Two into a medically induced coma to call you out, so to speak. You just nipped that plan in the bud."  
  
"And why are you in this universe?"  
  
"I was the first to know of this universe, actually. When I was in my late teens, I was quite the stoner. And at one point, I did go into a coma in a car accident. I woke up in the real Imaginary universe, and since have come here more than everyone else put together, twelve times in fact."  
  
"So what happens now? Do I kill you like I did Ami Two?"  
  
"Do you? I have Raynor's ship exactly where I want it. You kill me, he goes down with me."  
  
"He's going down anyways. Ice dagger." I say, drawing the line to conjure the weapon. "The only difference is whether you die or not."  
  
"I assure you, my intentions are not to die." He pulls a large sword out of seemingly nowhere. "Come on."  
  
Rei goes for her Fire Dagger but I stop her. "Him or me." I tell her. "He kills me, he's all yours."  
  
Rei doesn't seem all that pleased but complies anyway, stepping back. She conjures her Dagger, and awaits the outcome of the battle.  
  
Mengsk drops into a battle stance. I follow suit. "May the better man win." He mocks.  
  
"He will. I represent Raynor."  
  
"I hope that little blade of yours is magic, my dear girl, because I'm wearing the best armour in the Koprulu sector."  
  
"Unless you've heard of the material Clow, no, you aren't."  
  
He charges, setting up to deliver a vertical slice. I duck low and stab him square in the chest with my blade, going right through the armour and stopping him in his tracks. He yells out in pain, but doesn't fall. "The better man won." I say coldly, separating the handle from the blade and making a run for it.  
  
I go right for Rei and tackle her, sending both of us out of the blast radius, and when I hear the explosion and feel the heat on my back I know we won. But still, it was far too easy. Why was he so cocky? And why wasn't he better prepared? Why didn't he protect himself better?  
  
Some things will never be explained.  
  
"So now what?" Rei asks. "Do we just wait here to rejoin our real selves, or..." She pauses. "Did you feel that?"  
  
"Feel what?"  
  
"Like the universe just shifted." She says as I get the same feeling.  
  
"That means we're going back. I just felt it too."  
  
Everything blurs. Pain starts to register... head. Arms. Darkness... natural light...  
  
Back. 


	10. Whisper

Whisper  
  
"Fallen angels at my feet... Whispered voices at my ear... Death  
before my eyes... Lying next to me I fear... She beckons me, shall I  
give in... Upon my end shall I begin... Forsaking all I've fallen for  
I rise to meet the end..."  
  
"Mmmnnmgn..."  
  
I groggily awake back on the bridge of the Hyperion II, crash-landed on Braxis. A large gouge in the side of the hull reveals snow and night.  
  
I shakily get to my feet. "Rei?" I call out, albeit a little weakly.  
  
I look around. "Rei?" I call again, a little louder.  
  
"...Ami...?" Rei replies.  
  
"Rei, are you alright?"  
  
"I think so... I'll live, at least... what about the others?"  
  
"I don't know... Raynor? Schezar? Anybody?"  
  
"Nnn... wha... wh..." Comes Raynor's attempt at a reply.  
  
"Raynor! Where are you?" I call, transforming.  
  
"Here... Wherever here is. I'm-arg-under some wreckage." He seems quite calm considering the circumstances.  
  
His voice seems to be coming from the left. I look around, and catch a glimpse of sea green. "I think I see you." I go over to him and start lifting off parts of beams and girders. "Rei! You mobile? Can you come help?"  
  
"Yeah." She says, coming over, and helps me uncover Raynor.  
  
"Thanks, both of you." He says. "Any other survivors?"  
  
"Besides us, you're the first one who regained consciousness."  
  
"You've got a second." Schezar's voice comes from behind us, sounding like he's in a lot of pain.  
  
"You ok, Schezar?" Raynor asks.  
  
"I'll live, but I feel like I just went toe-to-toe with a Hunter Killer."  
  
"Yeah, don't we all. Anyone else?"  
  
"I'm here." Kazansky replies. "Looks like I got off easy. Barely a scratch on me."  
  
"Damnit, Kazansky, you never get hurt. I demand you injure yourself this instant!" He says as we finish clearing the debris and freeing him. "Man, that feels better." He says, getting to his feet.  
  
"I suppose it would." I reply.  
  
"That's it for the survivors? Walters? Usagi? Anyone?"  
  
No answer. Raynor, Schezar, Kazansky and I look around for any sign of the others. We find Usagi unconscious, but alright, and wake her up. Walters looked like she had a broken arm, and didn't wake up when we tried, but was still breathing.  
  
At that point my mind decides to remember the encounter with Mengsk. "Shit, we're sitting ducks here." I say suddenly.  
  
"What?" Raynor asks.  
  
"When we were knocked out, me and Rei went to the Imaginary universe. I killed Mengsk, and he said if he died the order would be given to destroy the ship. So we've got to get as many people as far away from this ship as we can, now."  
  
"I knew I should have stayed in bed this morning... Let's go." Raynor and all the other survivors start to exit the ship through the gouge in the hull.  
  
"Computer?" I try.  
  
Nothing. No power. "Nice try." Rei says as she exits and I follow.  
  
As I exit, I see Raynor looking up at the sky and do so myself. Silhouetted against the brownish-grey overcast sky is a Battlecruiser. "The Caesar." Raynor says. "Mengsk's flagship. He's moving into position to Yamato Gun us." He sounds thoroughly defeated.  
  
"Let's go then! Get away from here!"  
  
"It's useless. A Yamato Gun blast can level half a square mile. We're all dead."  
  
A light starts forming at the nose of the craft. "It's been a good run." He says remiscinently.  
  
"It's not over yet." Rei says. "It can't be over yet! There's gotta be something we can do! Anything!"  
  
"Unless your attacks can reach that far and destroy the nose of that ship in, oh, about seven seconds, there's nothing."  
  
The light gets brighter. It looks like an orange comet has parasitically merged with the ship. A loud hum fills the air, getting more and more high-pitched.  
  
Then, out of nowhere, a lightning bolt splits the sky and hits the Battlecruiser in the nose, destroying the Yamato Cannon before it can fire. Four seconds later, the thunder catches up to us and almost deafens us, it's so loud. "What the..."  
  
My eyes light up as I put two and two together. "MAKO!"  
  
I jump up on the top of the downed Hyperion and see Makoto there, a large sword in her hand, the blade of which made entirely out of lightning. "JUPITER!" She reverse intones, holding the blade above her head. "THUNDER! CANNOOON!" She brings the sword down in a vertical slice and it flashes a brilliant pure white for a split second.  
  
Another lightning bolt hits the Caesar in its right wing, and an explosion can be seen even from here. The ship starts to falter in its hover. "MAKOOO!" I call happily as I run over to her.  
  
She turns, and immediately breaks into a huge grin. "AMI!" She says as I wrap her up in a fierce embrace, squeezing her as tight as I can.  
  
"You're alive! You're alive!" I repeat over and over again, as if I need to be convinced of the fact.  
  
"I'm alive! I'm alive! Oh, it's good to be back!" She says over my verbal loop.  
  
I finally break the embrace. "You have one more of those left in you?" I say, tears of joy starting to well up in my eyes.  
  
"Hell yeah." She says, giving me the peace sign. Little crackles of electricity travel in the space between the two fingers.  
  
"Alright then." I say, looking at the injured Battlecruiser. "To blow it up, you're going to have to hit the Engineering section, the dark part near the back of the ship."  
  
She squints at the ship. "I think I can manage that." She says. "Stand back."  
  
I step back a little. "THIS ONE'S FOR EVERYONE IN THE HYPERION II! JUPITER!" She says, raising the sword over her head again. "THUNNNDER! CANNNNON!"  
  
The largest bolt of lightning rips through the air and all but splits the ship in two as it hits the back of it, sparking an explosion that envelops the entire ship. The whole glowing mass starts to go down.  
  
"You did it, Mako! You did it! YOU DID IT!" I say, wrapping her back up in a hug.  
  
"Hey, Ami, where'd you-MAKOTO!" Rei's voice comes from behind me. "Makoto, you're alright!" I hear her footsteps speed up as she starts running over.  
  
"I'm better than alright, I feel like a million volts right now!" Makoto replies over my left shoulder.  
  
I let her go again. "Don't ever leave like that again." I say before Rei catches up to us.  
  
"I won't. You'll...you-you'll make sure of th-that..." Makoto noticably slumps into me.  
  
"Mako!" Rei and I say as I try to keep her up. "What's wrong?"  
  
"I ust went back up. All the THC in my-my system's not f-flushed out yet... I think."  
  
"Oh... understandable."  
  
That makes her laugh, and it's then and there I know that things are finally starting to look up. Two almost-deaths, one attempted suicide, and probably thousands of sudden demises later, the latest chapter of Yamato Gun is over.  
  
But that's just it.  
  
It's over. 


	11. Yamato Gun: Fallen Omake

Yamato Gun: Fallen bonus features  
  
---  
  
A lone figure walks out from nowhere, and--um...figure? Walk out... moshi moshi?  
  
Ahem.  
  
"Wha? Oh, ri-right, right. I'm coming... I-I'm coming..."  
  
The speaker walks out from nowhere, and turns to face the reader. "What the hell...?" She asks of the sudden crashing sound. "You kick someone through a window, Mako?" She looks at wherever she came from.  
  
"Not me, Ami." Makoto replies. "Fourth wall, probably."  
  
"...Yeah, probably." Ami turns again to the reader. "You'll forgive my inability to concentrate, we all had a wake-and-bake afterparty that ended about fifteen minutes ago, and nobody told us we were going to do an omake section. Blah..." After shaking her head, as if to get the cobwebs out, she continues on. "Anyways, to the serious stuff before we get to the outtakes. This first section is a rewrite of chapter 5's Tourniquet, up to the time I fall asleep. I guess the writer wasn't happy with the first version, but why he didn't replace that one with this is anyone's guess."  
  
Because he wrote this after I finished Fallen, and the sudden style switch would stick out like a bangaa in a field of bengalaas. "Oh." Ami said flatly. "Whatever, let's get this omake on the road."  
  
---  
  
Fine Again  
  
I watch the wall clock shift to read 12:30 AM, as I sit on the bed in this unfamiliar room and contemplate the path my life has taken in the last week.  
  
My best friend, and fellow warrior, has fallen to an alien disease brought on by a piece of technology made in one dimension and contracted via a copy of myself from another. The second me is now in the brig, but can't- or won't- tell anyone why she would do such a thing. In bringing her in, I almost ended her life. And now, I'm starting to contemplate ending mine. In a sense, we are our own worst enemies. My demise, or that of any one of my closest friends, can come from ourselves, or at least a convincing replica.  
  
I want to lash out at something, but a part of my mind keeps stopping me by asking At what? Nothing I can access right now will help, as I'm not allowed out of my quarters until dawn. No, it's just 0600 hours, I remind myself. There's no sunrise in space, especially when you're 42,000 light- years from home.  
  
But... There is an alternative, in the other direction. Instead of taking out agression at something physically, I can dissipate agression mentally without physically expending any energy. My mind can't keep the image of Makoto, on the hospital bed, without a care, despite everything going on around her... I need that right now. I need to feel as if everything is alright, that everything will be okay, even if it does shield the truth from my eyes temporarily. I want to know what being stoned is like. But still, the rational part of me holds back, reminding me that it is illegal, and nobody who knows me in their right mind would understand or approve of it.  
  
A large pang of sadness suddenly hits me, as I realize I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place (A stone? some cynical part of my mind puns). If I don't, I have no reprieve from these events, and the emotions that go with it. If I do, nobody will understand my reasons, and, paranoid as it may sound, I'm worried I may end up ostracized because of it.  
  
But I can't just sit here and drive myself crazy wondering what if?, can I? What good will that serve? I know that if I don't start feeling better soon, I'll end up without sleep for the rest of the night, and then how productive will I be tomorrow?  
  
I can't stand it any longer. Either I fall asleep somewhere around the ozone layer (if this was still Earth), get a good night's sleep and feel better about myself in the morning, or be a worried, sleep-deprived wreck. To hell with legality. To hell with acceptance.  
  
Standing, I walk over to the glowing indent in the wall that is the replicator, mentally going over a list of components I'll need. "I would like... a Sherlock Holmes-style pipe, filled with one point five grams of the strongest strain of marijuana in your database... with a stand," I add as I realize I'll probably need to set it down at some point, "...A torch lighter... A glass of ginger ale..." Anything else? "And an incense burner with a couple of sticks of incense, please."  
  
The computer makes a blip with a sour note, a sound I assume means some sort of error. "The materials you requested are too large to fit in the replicator window at once."  
  
"Alright then... hmm... start with the incense burner, sticks and lighter, and then replicate the rest. Will that work?"  
  
"Affirmative."  
  
The computer replies as the incense and burner, and pyrotechnic device appear. I pick them up and walk over to the bed again, putting the stand on the bedside table and placing a stick in it. I flip open the torch lighter, press the button, and hold it to the top of the stick. It catches and burns, and I take the lighter away and set it down beside the holder. After a few seconds, I blow out the small flame, and the tip glows and starts to smoke. A faint buzzing noise reaches my ears and I turn to the replicator window in time to see the rest of the materials I requested materializing.  
  
I go and pick them up, then replace myself on the bed where I was. I set the stand down on the table and examine the contents of the pipe, the beautiful colour green that it is...  
  
My hands start to shake as the green reminds me of Makoto, and how it's her elemental, not to mention favorite, colour. Another pang of sadness tears at me, almost bringing me to tears. I have the treatment, right here, in my hands.  
  
One last time, my moral side pleads with the rest of me to throw the pipe away, to rethink my situation, but it's too late. If I've come this far, I won't stop here.  
  
Taking a deep breath, I pick up the lighter again. I put the mouthpiece in my mouth, and suddenly a mental picture of me as Sherlick Holmes, one that looks almost like a deformed caricature, manifests itself in my mind's eye... as one last-ditch effort to stop me by my moral side, Makoto appears in the same mental picture as Watson, and in a thick british accent, asks "Ami... why would you do such a thing?"  
  
"Elementary, my dear Mako." I reply, raising the pipe in the air as a toast, only half-realizing that I'm speaking out loud. "To join you."  
  
I press the button on the lighter and hold the invisible flame to the bowl of the pipe before the hallucination Mako can reply, and inhale sharply. Instantly a searing heat and irritation hits my throat, and I quickly take the pipe away, coughing, and put it back on its stand.  
  
Thirty seconds pass, and the coughing fit dies down enough for me to take a large drink of the ginger ale, trying desperately to quell the blaze. It works, a little, but I'm still coughing every so often. This is the best it's going to get without waiting about a half an hour... My mind conjectures. I take the pipe again, and with a deep breath put the mouthpiece in my mouth. The second hit produces the same result. I end up in another severe coughing fit, but it doesn't last as long, and I get it under control a little easier.  
  
As I'm in the middle of drinking the ginger ale this time, however, I notice something. An odd feeling has started to creep into my perception. Is it the feeling of being high? It's too faint to tell now.  
  
I take hit after hit, each making me cough, but each diminishing in length and severity. And all the while, this strange feeling gets stronger and stronger... I must be high now. The bowl is nothing but ash, and I'm finding it increasingly hard to concentrate, even though it's been 5 or 6 minutes since I took the last hit. Of course, I realize, the transfer of chemical is going to take a while. I'm probably feeling two or three hits before the last now... my eyes go wide. So I'm going to end up two or three hits' worth higher. Every time I seem to hit a plateau, I wonder if I'm going to stop ascending, and every time as if in response I keep going. My muscles don't want to act. My brain is in overdrive, turning my mind's eye into a strobelike series of images. This must be what Shinji has to put up with on Neon Genesis Evangelion. I think to myself. Poor shinji... I'd go insane, seeing this all the time. Just when I'm stoned would barely be enough to handle...  
  
The thought isn't completely, well, thought yet before I realize its meaning. When I'm stoned... It assumes that I'll continue on, and that this isn't just some one-time thing. Well, why not? In for a penny, in for a dollar, as Minako would say? And to my moral sense's chagrin, I agree with the not-quite-controlled thought. Although in for a pound would fit better. My mind puns, making me laugh out loud. God, I haven't felt this carefree in ages.  
  
In a decidedly rhetorical tone, my mind asks me Isn't that what you wanted?  
  
Yes, I reply. Mission accomplished.  
  
The pipe is on its stand, the lighter beside it, the incense has burned itself out, and the ginger ale is empty. Nothing to take care of, then... I blink, and then realize how dehydrated my eyes feel. I walk, unsteadily, to the replicator again. "Computer, is there any StarCraft eq- equivalent of Visine in your databasss...e?" I attempt to ask.  
  
The computer, apparently, can understand Stoned, and replies "Affirmative. It is known as the White formula, named after Jack White, its creator."  
  
"Thank you. Rep-replicator, I'd like a hypospray of, um..." Come on, brain, think, you only heard the name five seconds ago, you couldn't have forgotten it already... damn it, it's gone. "...of whatever the com- computer said. Please."  
  
A hypospray appears, and I pick it up. Pointing it at my left eye, I try not to blink as I press the trigger. The spray instantly makes my eye feel better. After the right eye clears, I blink a few times, then sigh contentedly. Everything's fine again.  
  
A tidal wave of tiredness hits me without warning and I let out a huge yawn. I look at the clock, one last time. 12:42. 12 minutes since this began. Not the longest time to change one's outlook on life, is it?  
  
I walk back to the bed, put the hypospray on the table where I could find room, lift up the covers and slide into the bed, and then let myself fall back from a sitting position, not realizing that it will trigger a headrush. It hits me, and keeps going, and soon most if not all thought leaves me as the headrush spreads and consumes my entire conciousness for a few seconds. I shudder involuntarily, and my breath catches in my throat. When it leaves me, the first coherent thought I can make is What... the hell... was that?  
  
Despite being the biggest single shock to the system I may have ever had, it felt really good at the same time. I'm going to have to think hard one day about how to describe it.  
  
Assuming I remember, as my eyes close of their own accord and I start to drift off. I'll remember. I think. I'll end up doing that again some time... maybe for field research as to how to describe it. I add with a small smirk, all the physical activity I can muster, and then before I know it I'm asleep.  
  
---  
  
This time, Makoto walks out from seemingly nowhere, and is on cue this time... "I read that!" Ami says from outside the margins of the fic, and she can shout at the narrator until she's hoarse for all he cares.  
  
"Right..." Makoto says, and don't ask, please. "Not asking, then. Moving on, we've got... what do we have..." Makoto looks down the page to remind herself of what's next. "...Oh yeah, right. We have another chapter of Fallen. This one is an epilogue chapter, one that Theories fans are going to think very familiar... It's called Soulfire, named for a song by 12 Stones. The lead singer of the band, Paul McCoy, appeared with Evanescence in Bring Me to Life. Enjoy!"  
  
---  
  
Epilogue: Soulfire  
  
"You set my soul on fire, you take me so much higher, higher  
again...thank you for it all..."  
  
"When'd you wake up?" I ask Mako as she starts packing a bowl for the both of us at her apartment.  
  
"I think it was when the Hyperion crashed. I remember coming out of the Imaginary world, when I could read my Dali'd watch..."  
  
"'Dali'd'? What do you mean?"  
  
"You know The Persistence of Memory, by Salvidor Dali? Melting clocks and all that?" I nod yes. "Like that, solid, but looking like it's dripping down my wrist."  
  
"Ah."  
  
"So I finally figure the time out to be about 10:00, then everything fades to black, and I wake up, maybe 9:30, freezing, with a big gash in the side of the hull. Missed my head by this much." Mako stops what she's doing and holds her hands apart about half a foot.  
  
"Ooh." I say, wincing.  
  
"Yeah. Anyway, I get outside to get my bearings, suppose we're on Braxis because of all the snow, and see that other ship in the distance. Who was that, anyway?"  
  
"That was the Caesar, captained by the late Emperor Arcturus Mengsk, mastermind of this twisted little plot."  
  
"Really... Anyway, I put two and two together, figured it shot Hyperion II down, and decided to exact my revenge with some Jupiter Thunder."  
  
"But nobody told you of the upgrades."  
  
"Exactly, and suddenly I've got this sword that looks like it belonged to Thor, so one part of me's trying to figure out what attack to call while the other's wondering why I've got this thing. Something to do with the eye colouring, I imagine."  
  
"Yeah. They're related, but nobody seems to know what's causing it. All we know is it has something to do with being in the StarCraft universe."  
  
"Right. What's with the voice thing, too?"  
  
"Same nous ne saions quoi-- if I translated that correctly-- kind of deal."  
  
"Oh, for--" She doesn't bother finishing the second half of that sentence. "So who's starting off this Sherlock?"  
  
"Whoever. You want to?"  
  
"Nah, I'm full of THC myself. You go ahead." She hands me the pipe.  
  
"Alright, thanks." I say, taking the pipe, grabbing the lighter from her coffee table, and sparking the bowl.  
  
In the middle of hitting the thing something clicks in Mako's mind. "How'd you get started, if you didn't end up in the vegetable patch like me?"  
  
I hold up a hand to pantomime 'wait'. "Right. Sorry."  
  
I pass her the pipe, inhaling a second time. She takes it, relights the bowl, and takes a hit herself. She starts coughing after about five seconds, and I try not to laugh as she nearly hacks up a lung. "Jees, that's rough stuff-" She's able to get out before starting up another coughing fit.  
  
She downs about a quarter of her bottle of ginger ale and is able to quell her coughing before I exhale. "How come you're not coughing?"  
  
"I don't have virgin lungs like you?" I suggest.  
  
"True."  
  
"Yeah, as to your original question. It was about five hours before you came and saved me. I couldn't sleep, all this curiosity about weed circlinig my brain like a cloud of smoke, and so I replicate myself some to get rid of it."  
  
"Doesn't seem like you."  
  
"I wasn't me. Like I said to Rei at the time..." I almost trail off as I start my ascent, but stop myself from forgetting what I was talking about. "...uh, 'Being myself hurt too much'."  
  
"...I don't follow."  
  
"Oh, right, you don't know why you had to save me in the first place..." Something clicks in my brain. "Why'd you have to ask how I got started? I told you, when we met up in the Imaginary universe."  
  
"Yeah, well...I remember very little about that time. You have to understand that whether I felt or not I was stoned out of my mind, and anyway everything was like a dream to me. So I forgot pretty much everything you told me."  
  
"Ah...what was the question?" I ask, as concentrating on her answer made me forget the original query.  
  
"God, you're wrecked already. You were explaining why you attempted to kill yourself."  
  
"Oh, right...right." I repeat, my tone turning more dark. "I ended up posessed by the Confusion card at some point between the time I replicated that bowl and the time I..." I trail off, not wanting to complete that sentence, instead waving a hand in the air as if to say 'you know the rest'. "It made me feel so guilty for letting you get attacked... it rationalized that by making me think it was because I was late getting to your place."  
  
"And still being stoned, you were in no condition to argue."  
  
I sigh heavily. "Yeah."  
  
Mako notices my sudden lapse into depression and decides to change the subject. "Hey, shoot, we forgot the rest of this bowl."  
  
"Oh yeah!" I reply, the last minute completely forgotten.  
  
Mako picks up the pipe from where she put it down on the coffee table. "Your hit."  
  
I spark the bowl again, take another hit, and pass the pipe to Makoto. While she's taking a hit, I attempt to speak while inhaling and say "Normal air helps."  
  
She gives me the thumbs-up as she finishes hitting the pipe, inhaling again afterwards and lasting about fifteen seconds this time before coughing up her other lung. I lose my hit laughing at the cartoonish mental picture of that, a la the Itchy and Scratchy cartoons on The Simpsons. She follows suit, and for a good thirty seconds we kill ourselves laughing.  
  
"Hee hee hmm hmm hmm hmm... hmm... what was I laughing at?" Mako asks me.  
  
"Uh... er... damn, I know this." I think hard for a little bit. "Not sure. I think I started laughing, and not to be outdone you started."  
  
"Oh." Five seconds pass. "What were you laughing at, then?"  
  
"Ooh. Um. I know this one too." Mako chortles at this. "Oh, right. I imagined what you would look like coughing up a lung as if you were in the Itchy and Scratchy cartoons on The Simpsons."  
  
Mako looks at me like I've grown a second head. "Riiight."  
  
"Right what?" I ask, as the last minute gets wiped from my memory. Stupid mental power outage.  
  
"Um...Sorry. Just lost it."  
  
"You've lost it, alright."  
  
"Oh, thanks." She replies. "Like you're any different."  
  
"I don't think anyone's all there, for that matter."  
  
"True, true."  
  
Um... what were we talking about?  
  
We lapse into a stoned silence for a while, just sort of basking in the feeling of being high. Kinda reminds me of the Imaginary universe and its long pauses in the conversations Mako and I had. "That explains it."  
  
"Explains what?" Mako asks confusedly.  
  
"Why there were so many lapses in the conversations you and I had in the Imaginary universe."  
  
Mako blinks. "What?"  
  
Oh, right. She can't remember much of that. "Sorry. You and I had one or two conversations where there'd be a break in the talking for about thirty seconds or so. Like just now."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Another long silence passes. "Just like that."  
  
"Mmm." About five seconds pass. "Pizza."  
  
For whatever reason, this is uproariously funny. "Wha-ha-hat?" I manage to get out as we commit suicide through laughter once again.  
  
"I don't kno-ho-ho hee hee hee ha ha... sounded fitting at the time-- " Mako finds this so funny now that she can't even laugh, her face frozen in a huge grin, and she ends up on her side on the free cushion of the couch.  
  
A good three minutes pass before either of us can stop laughing. "What was so funny?" Mako asks from her resting spot on her side.  
  
"Something random." I say, trying hard to remember the origin of our laughing fit.  
  
Something cartoony pops up in my mind, half-hidden by the fog around my concious thought. "A cartoon of some sort. I think."  
  
Mako snorts at that. "What?" I ask.  
  
"I'm just thinking that this must be what Wil E. Coyote feels like when an anvil is dropped on him." She says, getting up and resting her head on the back of her couch.  
  
"So we're not just stoned, we're anviled?"  
  
"I guess." Mako says, and from the tone of her voice I can tell she's trying her hardest not to laugh again.  
  
This reminds me of the clone Senshi. "That must be it."  
  
"Must be what?"  
  
"Hmm? Oh, how 'Anviled' got coined."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Another long silence. This sends my brain down the Imaginary road, and I start humming it. "What song is that?" Mako asks.  
  
"Imaginary, by Evanescence."  
  
"Ah." another five seconds pass. "Why'd you start humming it?"  
  
"The long silence. Reminded me of the Imaginary universe."  
  
"And how do we know it's called that?"  
  
"Shall I list it alphabetically or just throw it out there? Uh, 1, it matches the song, and 2, we both started saying it and it fit."  
  
Mako blinks in confusion. "Matches the song?"  
  
I sing the chorus. "'In my field of paper flowers, and candy clouds of lullaby...I lie inside myself for hours, and watch my purple sky fly over me...'"  
  
"That makes even less sense."  
  
"Yeah, and this is going to fry your brain even further. The whole mess is based on the album."  
  
"It's what?"  
  
"Yeah. In order, to boot, save for Bring Me to Life."  
  
"You'd think that'd be the most logical one. Being the biggest single."  
  
"Yeah, that and the one to describe the general plot."  
  
"That too."  
  
"So how'd my getting permastoned equate?"  
  
"Pretty well." I sing the chorus from Everybody's fool. "'Never was and never will be, you don't know how you've betrayed me, and somehow you've got everybody fooled...' Kind of like the thing with Ami Two."  
  
"Pretty close." Three seconds pass before she starts laughing again.  
  
"What?" I say, wondering what set her off this time.  
  
"Sorry. I'm just thinking about Ami Two's reaction when she realized I wasn't her Mako, and again when I told her that just because I returned the kiss doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it."  
  
"What reaction was that?"  
  
"She blushed so hard I was worried she'd pass out."  
  
"That makes sense. I'd do the same thing if I was her."  
  
"You are her."  
  
"I'd like to remind you that attempting to kill you, or at the very least incapacitate you for two weeks, is the very, very last thing I'd do."  
  
"Yeah. Wonder why it was one of the first things she did."  
  
"Dunno. Raynor said he had a lead on that, but I haven't heard from him about it since."  
  
"Mmm." Something else clicks in her mind. "I wonder how close to their universe we are."  
  
"I'd imagine pretty close, besides the obvious evillity of the other universe." A small part of my mind reminds me that it was my clone that kissed her, and had feelings for her in the first place, and wonders idly if that's the road her mind's going down also.  
  
Her raised eyebrow and mischevious grin speaks volumes. "Spiritual link or not, I can hear that thought from here." I say as I lean in to kiss her.  
  
She returns the kiss with equal passion, and soon our tongues are wrestling for dominance. Unconciously, I slip my arms around her neck, and she does so around my waist. A good minute passes before we break for air. "W...wow." I manage breathlessly, our foreheads resting against each other.  
  
"Yeah." She returns, and takes my hand, getting up.  
  
"Where are we going?"  
  
"On the off chance this goes any further, we're going to need a little more room than this little couch."  
  
The effect of the words hit me and I blush slightly. "Ah."  
  
"Just like the other Ami, you are." She says as I get up.  
  
"Oh, be quiet, you." I kiss her again, one hand going around her waist and the other around her neck, and I'm surprised by the force I crush her to me with.  
  
Another minute passes before we break again. "You know, that's probably the most fun I've had shutting up."  
  
"Keep it up and we won't even make it to the bed."  
  
"Mmm, probably not. Better get going then."  
  
We walk to her bedroom, hand in hand, partly out of love and partly to keep each other's balance. When we get there, I turn around and flop down on her bed. "I never thought walking could be so tiring." I say, staring at the ceiling. Or I would be, if my eyes weren't closed.  
  
"We're too stoned to bother moving, remember?" She replies.  
  
"Actually, I don't remember. I'm stoned..." As a second double- entendre, I add "...Remember?"  
  
"I'll 'stoned' you, you--" she starts as she half-pounces on top of me, startling the bejesus out of me.  
  
"Darn it, I was this close to the secret to happiness, I'll have you know!" I joke as my semi-trance is broken.  
  
"We found it, remember? It's green and orange and smokable."  
  
I stare up at her, noticing how red her eyes are. "You may have a point."  
  
"Thank you." Makoto's voice takes on the eloquent air of an announcer. "We now return you to our regularly scheduled love scene."  
  
We kiss again. We find each other's hands, and Mako pins them above my head. This continues for, oh, 10 minutes or so, both of us content to just lie there and kiss the living hell out of each other. that is, until my hands slip out of hers and of their own accord cup her breasts through her blouse. She lets out a small "mmm..." at that, and returns the favour, which produced a far more severe response from me. I involuntarily tilt my head back so far I end up breaking the kiss, and my eyes roll back in my head, only to discover this temporarily makes me go up about fifty times higher than I was. I attempt to curl myself into a ball, the sudden jettison into the exosphere too much for me. Which doesn't work very well with Makoto on top of me. After a good fifteen seconds I finally relax again. "What the heck was that? Did you have an orgasm?"  
  
"I-I don't know." I say, my mind still shattered, my eyelids barely able to stay above slits. "I think if your head's tilted up like that, and your eyes are back in your head, you go way up for a little while..."  
  
"Weird. Seemed like you enjoyed it, though."  
  
"Hell yeah." I breathe. "Sorry for that little interruption." I reply with a smirk as I kiss Mako again.  
  
Some time later, we simultaneously go for each other's blouses. When I'm done unbottoning hers she tilts her arms back so I can take it off, but I stop when the sleeves are just above the elbows, effectively immobilizing her. "Hey, that's not fair!" She says.  
  
"All's fair in love and war." I quote as I move to her neck.  
  
She sighs at this attention. "Mmm...I guess I can let it slide..."  
  
"I thought so."  
  
I didn't notice it, but I let go of the blouse at some point and she wriggled free of it. "A-ha!" She says triumphantly as she traps both my arms in one of hers.  
  
I'm going to pay for that one. I think. Another part of my brain thinks If this is me paying her...I'd sure like to see her paying me.  
  
Her free hand undoes the front clasp of my bra and slides the cups off my breasts, then, still keeping my arms immobilized (I never realized how long her arms are before this), moves down and takes a nipple in her mouth.  
  
This prompts another head-jerk back, and another skyrocket. "You're a bit prone to those, aren't you?" She asks me before continuing on.  
  
"I...I guess so..." My mind hasn't even recovered from the first one, let alone the second. I'm surprised I can still speak.  
  
Mako moves to my other breast, prompting pretty much the same response, but she doesn't stop to say anything this time, so I end up with what seems like a large current passing through me. Fitting metaphor, Some still-coherent faction of my brain observes, considering the person that's doing this to me.  
  
She keeps up this delightful torture for a little while longer before asking "Now, are you going to be good?"  
  
I'm so incoherent at this point, my brain swimming in adrenaline and endorphins and THC and god knows how many hormones, that I can only nod. "Good." She lets my arms go, and they end up limp to either side, hanging off the side of the bed.  
  
Mako leaves a trail of kisses down my stomach, only stopping to tease my navel with her tongue, and again once she gets to the top edge of my skirt. She pulls down both skirt and panties, and I blush at the thought of what I'm about to go through.  
  
She runs her hands up the insides of my legs, and this alone sends a spike of pleasure through me. I spread my legs in anticipation. Halfway up my thighs she slows to a quarter of her pace, making me moan in impatience. Especially since I'm stoned. After what seems like four point two eternities, she finally reaches her destination, prompting my fourth journet into orbit. I moan aloud as my back arches farther than I thought I could go, and another fifteen seconds pass before I come back down somewhat.  
  
If I thought the other bit was a large current, now feels more like a lightning bolt froze as soon as it hit me. Mako's relentless at attacking my clit, suckling it while rolling it around with her tongue. Kami, I feel like I'm about to explode.  
  
And then she takes the "'m about to" away from that sentence when she slips two fingers into me and curls them upwards, producing an almost immediate climax and another head-jerk ultrastonage to boot. So I'm completely wiped out when I come back down, idly reminding myself of the Blair Witch symbol because of the position I'm in. "Man, did it look like you had fun."  
  
I'm physically unable to reply. I can't even so much as nod. My conciousness has been shattered into four hundred and twenty billion pieces. Wait...two hundred and ten billion... I'm starting to come together. Good. I manage a "Mmm."  
  
She moves back up and brings me into a kiss that allows me enough of a rest to piece my mind back together. When it does my strength returns with it, and I roll Mako over. "She returns from the dead." She jokes.  
  
"Thanks for killing me." I return.  
  
"Your turn." She says with a grin only feasable to someone stoned or named Usagi.  
  
"Yes ma'am."  
  
I reach around and attempt to undo Mako's bra clasp with her weight on it. Doesn't work. "Little help?" I ask.  
  
"Yep." She says, and in an impressive feat of strength, does a sit-up with me on top of her.  
  
"How strong are you?" I say as I undo the clasp, and she immediately crashes back down, almost breaking a couple of my fingers.  
  
"Not that strong, apparently." She says. "Sorry about the fingers."  
  
"'S ok. Good reflexes." I say. "Now, where was I..."  
  
I take the bra off of her, and affect the very same response she did with me. "My, that does look like you came from this end." I observe.  
  
"I'm not-not so sure I didn't..." She purrs.  
  
I continue to suckle at her breast, switching every minute or so, and soon I move for the jeans. She lifts her hips so I can easily slide them off of her, and soon she's as nude as I am. My one hand gently strokes and pulls at the other breast while my other moves down, and I tease her clit wit my thumb. She moans aloud, and arches her back under me. That's the reaction I'm looking for... a part of my brain I'm not quite in control of tells me.  
  
I slip two fingers into her like she did with me, and curl them upwards, while continuing to stroke her clit with my thumb. One of Mako's hands holds the back of my neack, the other increasing the pressure I'm putting on her womanhood. At this rate, it can't be long. I think. And I'm right. Not a minute passes before she throws her head back in climax, and goes straight to Jupiter as a result. When she's done, she's really done. I think she blacked out, in fact. I suppose she'll thank me in the morning.  
  
Speaking of, what time is it? I glance at the clock.  
  
What do you know? It's 4:20 AM.  
  
---  
  
The third host of the omake walks out from the void and faces the reader. "Yo." Minako greets, holding up a peace sign. "The next section is what we've all been waiting for, the outtakes! Starting in order from earliest in the fic to the very end, it covers practical jokes, screwups in lines, prop malfunctions, special effect goofs, and anything else the writer thought of putting in as an outtake. Warning: Heart attacks due to laughing too much are not the author's responsibility, so read at your own risk... seriously, do we need a joke that stupid?"  
  
Hey, I don't think 'em up, I just paint the picture. Take it up with the author.  
  
---  
  
Scene: Arcade, Going Under  
  
The scene is the Crown Arcade. Makoto is waiting for Ami, who said she was going to be there at about 4:30.  
  
Makoto glanced at the clock on the wall as she sipped her drink. The time ticked over to 4:20. "She should be here any time soon..." She said to nobody in particular. "Speak of the devil... Hi, Ami!" she got up, drink in hand, and walked over to meet her blue-haired friend.  
  
"Hi, Makoto!" Ami said.  
  
"How's life treating you today?"  
  
"Same as usual... though it looks like it'll get worse, since it's forecasting rain-"  
  
"Hi, Ami-chan!"  
  
Both Ami and Makoto turned to see Makoto walking through the doors of the arcade.  
  
Again.  
  
She walked over to the two and said "Hi, Makoto, I didn't know you were going to be heee..." before realizing what she was saying and blinking in confusion. "That's me!"  
  
"Uh...Mako Two? You come in at the Shrine." Makoto One said.  
  
"Oh, shoot, wrong senshi..." Makoto Two replied before ducking back out of the arcade.  
  
---  
  
Scene: Hyperion II Conference Room, Going Under  
  
"Science Fiction is often the basis for Science Fact." Raynor said, getting up and facing Minako Two. "This won't hurt a bit."  
  
Raynor pointed the Scanner at Minako Two, pressed a few buttons, and accidentally pushed something he wasn't supposed to. The tricorder fired a bullet at Minako, hitting her in the chest. After looking at Raynor with a confused look, she slumped to the ground, lifeless. "Oops." Raynor said sheepishly as all 9 alive Senshi suddenly went pale as a ghost.  
  
Three seconds later Zeratul and Raynor burst out laughing. "What the hell is so funny?!" Makoto One asked in a very confused tone.  
  
"The looks on your faces..." Raynor was able to get out, as Minako Two started to laugh and got up.  
  
"Practical joke." She explained.  
  
The Senshi attempted to shoot deathglares while straining to avoid laughing with Raynor and Zeratul.  
  
---  
  
Scene: Mars/Venus chasing Mercury Two, Everybody's Fool  
  
She drops down into the metre-or-so hole in between the buildings. Shoot, I'm going headfirst into gravel if I don't do something fast. I try to flip around and land on my feet, but don't quite make it, and end up sliding on my butt the length of the apartment's roof, only stopping when I hit a ledge on the other side. Man, is this going to hurt in the morning.  
  
What the--  
  
On the next building, there's five people there, each holding up score cards. Apparently I've got an eight, eight, seven point five, eight, and a five. "Ooh, and the French judge took major marks off for the bad landing..." Minako says, skidding to a stop beside me about two seconds before the seven of us kill ourselves laughing.  
  
---  
  
Scene: Hyperion II Sickbay, My Immortal  
  
The medic sprays the solution in her right eye, and it clears almost instantly. He repeats this with the other eye. "Thanks." I say.  
  
"That's better..." Makoto says, mostly to herself.  
  
"No problem." He says as he finishes making notes on the pad. "Anything happens, you can page us by pressing here." He shows both of us a glowing red square on the pad.  
  
"Will do." I say as he walks over to the next filled bed.  
  
Fifteen seconds pass, then thirty, then a full minute. "Mako? Line?"  
  
"Huh? Oh, shoot... I told you it was a mistake to actually get me stoned..." She says distantly.  
  
Blip  
  
The medic sprays the solution in her right eye, and it clears almost instantly. He repeats this with the other eye. "Thanks." I say.  
  
"That's better..." Makoto says, mostly to herself.  
  
"No problem." He says as he finishes making notes on the pad. "Anything happens, you can page us by pressing here." He shows both of us a glowing red square on the pad.  
  
"Will do." I say as he walks over to the next filled bed.  
  
"Hard to-to believe," Makoto says suddenly, "that sss... omething this-this bad could be so amazing."  
  
"Dyslexics of the world, untie." I quip, setting her laughing off prematurely.  
  
"Strike two..." She says once she calms down. "Shall we wait for the official swing-and-a-miss, or do we move to the asleep scenes so I can burn out this high?"  
  
---  
  
Scene: Hyperion II Holodeck, Haunted  
  
I've got something to occupy my time, however-Minako, Rei, Usagi and I are in the holodeck target program, testing the new attacks. "Alright, R- er, Mars, you're up first." Raynor says.  
  
Mars concentrates hard, then reverse-intones "Mars... Fire Dagger!"  
  
Much like my Ice dagger, Mars draws a line in the air with her finger, and it fattens into--  
  
Into a Bic lighter?  
  
Mars stares at the lighter, floating in air, then her expression turns demonic. "Alright, whose idea was this? And why is it always me?"  
  
---  
  
"Well, the long-range checks out. What about short-range?" Raynor asks.  
  
"Hmm..." Venus thinks for a second. "Oh, I know." She says.  
  
She twirls the bow around and it seemed to melt into...nothing, as it stays liquid and drips down onto the floor. "Well, that was interesting. Anyone have a towel?" Minako says. "Hey, at least you're not the only one being preyed on by the prop department, Rei."  
  
Raynor's D3 blipped and he pulled it out. "Y'ello?" Raynor said as he flipped it open.  
  
"Yeah, sorry about the chakram malfunction." The prop manager says from the D3. "We had some problems with it before, but we thought we fixed it."  
  
"Malfunction?" Rei says, smoke practically pouring from her ears. "It wasn't a practical joke?"  
  
"Uh... bye." The prop manager hastily ends the conversation as he closes the link.  
  
"Do I have authority to fire him?" Rei asks nobody in particular. "Or do I have to resort to Extra Crispy?"  
  
---  
  
Scene: Dream sequence, Tourniquet  
  
I see... something. A box. No, a room. From the top. Like it had a glass ceiling.  
  
I see people. Makoto... and someone I don't recognize right away. She's familiar... Jenni. That's it.  
  
Jenni? Why Jenni? She passed away about a year ago.  
  
Makoto's smoking some marijuana with her. Her face is streaked with tears-She was upset about something?-but she's not upset now. She's coughing. Jenni quickly goes into another room, presumably to get Makoto a drink or something. She comes back and Makoto drinks a bit of the bottle of coke offered to her. Makoto then leans back on the couch she's on, and takes another drink. Her and Jenni start talking, but I can't hear what's being said.  
  
Suddenly, the audio comes back and Jenni asks "Do you have the feeling we're being watched?"  
  
"You too?" Makoto replies.  
  
---  
  
Scene: IM conversation, Hello  
  
Ami Mizuno: Lol. I hear that.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Whatever the outcome, I hope it is the "right" thing to do.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Even if it isn't to anyone else.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Ami, I've never seen you this depressed.  
  
Pyromaniac #216: Are you still feeling guilty about Makoto?  
  
Ami Mizuno: Not exactly.  
  
Ami Mizuno: I met up with her.  
  
Ami Mizuno: Rei? Hello?  
  
Pyromaniac #216 has disconnected  
  
Ami Mizuno: Uh...what?  
  
---  
  
As I try to figure out why Rei DCed my communicator beeps at me. "Yo." I greet the person on the other end, and seeing who it is add "What happened?"  
  
"Damn computer crashed." Rei says from the other line. "If it isn't a line screwup, a typo, or a practical joke, it's frigging Windows. I'm restarting as we speak, should be up in another five minutes."  
  
"Told you Apple was more stable."  
  
Rei sticks her tongue out at me. "Stick that in your precious Apple's CD drive." She says before signing off, making me laugh as I hit the button to close this end of the link.  
  
---  
  
Scene: Minako's room, Hello  
  
"We're here, Minako." Rei says softly.  
  
"Hey, Ami? My computer crashed." Minako rambles. "Do you have a patch for Windows? Maybe in the closet?"  
  
"What?" I ask confusedly.  
  
Raynor seems to get this stoned ramble more than the rest of us because he immediately turns and...tries to perforate the closet with the sleeper shots, but a loud grinding sound fills the air. "Shit... jammed, and it sounds like a bad one." He diagnoses.  
  
"Great. How long'll it take to fix?" Rei asks.  
  
"Could be five minutes, could be an hour. Depends on how the shots ended up inside the thing."  
  
"Take your time, I'm not going anywhere..." Minako says, sounding to me like she's talking in her sleep.  
  
---  
  
Scene: Pseudo-Imaginary universe, My Last Breath  
  
"So what happens now? Do I kill you like I did Ami Two?"  
  
"Do you? I have Raynor's ship exactly where I want it. You kill me, he goes down with me."  
  
"He's going down anyways. Ice dagger." I say, drawing the line to conjure the weapon. "The only difference is whether you die or not."  
  
"I assure you, my intentions are not to die." He pulls... or tries to pull his sword from seemingly nowhere, as the hand movement that is supposed to trigger Hammerspace isn't working for some reason. "Come on, damn it..." It finally works, but strangely ends up point-first, and Mengsk grips it like he would have the handle. "Ahh! Son of a bitch!"  
  
"Shoot, you alright?" I ask, walking up to him and unconjuring the Dagger.  
  
"Not quite, but I'll make it. Soon as it stops bleeding, gimme some liquid bandage and I'll be fine. Not like I'm actually going to do anything with this, anyway." He motions to his sword, on the ground beside him.  
  
---  
  
Ami walks out from the void, a coffee cup in her hand. "Me again." She says. "Burning out. I need this." She holds up the mug of steaming liquid to a toast, then takes a sip before continuing. "The last section of this omake is dedicated to injokes, easter eggs, and other secret and/or meaningful things put in the background by the author."  
  
She takes a cue card out of her pocket. "Alright, first... first is that most of the numbers are meaningful somehow. Some of them are pretty obvious if you know of the 4:20 story, explained in Tourniquet-- examples include the time at the beginning of Going Under, as Mako is waiting for me, and the Hyperion II code for the pickup of hazardous materials, code 42. Multiples--like 8:40 PM, when I go to bed in the first scene of Taking Over Me. The second number to watch out for is 216, which is of special importance to the author, as the key code for the O-with-a-line-through-it character ('Ø') on windows computers is Alt0216, and it's kind of a special symbol for him. People with way too much time on their hands could probably do some simple math and find more time and number easter eggs dealing with both these numbers. Oh, and by the way--the lowercase version ('ø'), as well as the uppercase version, is actually a dutch accented letter, and is pronounced as an O and an E squished together. So the protoss profanity 'døk'sha' is pronounced 'doekasha'. Might come in handy if you have linguists over and feel the need to swear."  
  
"Still on the subject of number manipulation, the universe/multiverse number for the clone Senshi is not a set of random numbers, but actually an easter egg message. Basically the message was converted into the number that the letter is in the alphabet, for example A is 1, B is 2, and so on to Z, which is 26. The message is 'Theories,' which is the fanfic universe the Senshi come from, and then a 420 tacked on the end for good measure."  
  
"Then there's the choice of words in some cases. In the beginning, when a communicator went off, nobody said 'hi' or 'hai', but as the fanfic went on that became increasingly frequent. Also, in Tourniquet, as another reference to the clone Senshi's home universe, the Confusion card says that any answer 'my mind' would come up with as to why the Theories universe had to meet up with our own would 'only be a theory'. This was mimiced by Makoto during her explanation of the events at the end of the chapter."  
  
"Well, thanks for reading this little omake section, and may you always hit the bowl on 4:20. Now, if you'll excuse me, I just got an idea..."  
  
Ami walks off, and calls off-margin "Hey, Mako! You up for recreating Soulfire?"  
  
"Done and done..." Makoto replies, and they both laugh at the inadvertant pun as the fanfic goes black.  
  
---  
  
Fin 


	12. Epilogue: Re10ad

Init.Open ("Re10ad.txt")  
  
Output.Text ("Reload.txt", 18)  
  
Output:"Reload (A Digimon Yamato Gun-set Darkfic)  
  
By the Reanimated Raynor   
  
(Reanimated_Raynor@interactive.rogers.com,  
  
Ryn0r@hotmail.com)  
  
Notes:  
  
Dark. You know my style in these fics. Short, bitter,   
  
angsty. No plan. Hope you like it. Listening to the   
  
Matrix: Reloaded Soundtrack. Still on the   
  
pseudoephedrine. Set after YG:Epilogue, before Umi Mori  
  
(both coming soon).  
  
Re10ad  
  
"  
  
Proceed? _y  
  
End Init.Open  
  
Init.LineBreak  
  
End Init.LineBreak  
  
---  
  
Init.Digiw0r1d  
  
Site.10ad ("Beachpoint")  
  
Char.10ad ("Ami", human (fema1e:Senshi:DD))  
  
1ast.Kn0wnF0rm := Human. Pr0ceed? _y  
  
Char.10ad ("Mako", human (fema1e:Senshi:DD))  
  
1ast.Kn0wnF0rm := Human. Pr0ceed? _y  
  
Char.10ad ("Mina", human (fema1e:Senshi:DD))  
  
1ast.Kn0wnF0rm := Human. Pr0ceed? _y  
  
Char.10ad ("Usagi", human (fema1e:Senshi:DD))  
  
1ast.Kn0wnF0rm := Human. Pr0ceed? _y  
  
Char.10ad ("Rei", human (fema1e:Senshi:DD))  
  
1ast.Kn0wnF0rm := Human. Pr0ceed? _y  
  
Char.F0rm (Last.KnownForm)  
  
End Init.Digiw0r1d  
  
Init.LineBreak  
  
End Init.LineBreak  
  
Output.Text ("Reload.txt", 19-29)  
  
---  
  
"I'm never going to quite get used to that feeling." Minako commented as her and the rest of the senshi DigiPorted in."  
  
"Yeah. It's almost like we're transforming, only...not." Makoto agreed.  
  
"Yeah. Anyways, we're here, like Tai asked." Ami said. "Only thing is, where's Tai?"  
  
Init.LineBreak  
  
End Init.LineBreak  
  
---  
  
Init.Scan  
  
Where.Char ("Tai")  
  
Char ("Tai") = 0  
  
"Tai" is n0t in Digiw0r1d.  
  
End Init.Scan  
  
Init.Digiworld  
  
Char.DecoyLoad ("Tai", human (male:Normal:DD))  
  
Load.Location (SE_10mil (Ami))  
  
End Init.DigiWorld  
  
Init.LineBreak  
  
End Init.LineBreak  
  
Output.Text ("Reload.txt", 30-39)  
  
---  
  
"I don't see him." Usagi said. "He said the beach, right?"  
  
"For all we know, the whole coast could be a beach." Rei said. "This is an island, after all."  
  
"True." Ami said, getting out her minicomputer. "Let me see if I can pull up a map of this place or something."  
  
---  
  
///WARNING///  
  
Unauth0rized fi1e d0wn10ad in pr0gress by "Ami". Terminate? _n  
  
N0 termination.  
  
Fi1e.D0wn1oad ("Digiworld.Map") in Pr0gress: 102.21 Kb/Sec--30 sec0nds remaining.  
  
Init.LineBreak  
  
End Init.LineBreak  
  
Output.Text ("Reload.txt", 40-259)  
  
---  
  
"There." Ami announced after some quick commands. "We've got a map on its way."  
  
"Excellent. I really do want to know what the heck was so urgent." Rei said.  
  
"Yeah. I mean, what could it be? Another enemy?" Minako said.  
  
"I hope not." Usagi said. "That big robot Duran guy was bad enough, now we've still got the Hybrid in the StarCraft universe to help deal with and--"  
  
Usagi was interrupted by a series of beeps. "Ah. The map finished downloading." Ami said.  
  
"Thanks. I was going to go on for five minutes the way things were going."  
  
"Ami, I don't suppose you could give us a tape of that beeping?" Rei suggested innocently.  
  
"Oh, be quiet." Usagi said before sticking out her tongue at Rei.  
  
"Practice what you preach." Rei shot back before sticking out her tongue.  
  
"Ahem." Ami interrupted. "Says we've got a bit of a walk ahead of us."  
  
"How much is 'a bit'?" Minako asked.  
  
"Don't shoot the messenger, but it says Tai and the DigiDestined are 10 miles southeast of here," Ami replied, pointing out what direction Southeast is. "and the easiest route has us cutting through a small forest, unless one of us has a boat nearby we could use."  
  
"You mean like that one?" Makoto said, pointing to a boat that was floating in the water about fifty metres from the group, apparently abandoned.  
  
"Yeah, that works." Ami said. "Who's going to go get it?"  
  
"Well, I can swim the fastest, so I'd be the natural choice." Minako said.  
  
"You think you're faster than me?" Makoto said. "Yeah, right."  
  
"Ya wanna bet?"  
  
"Sure. What's your bet?"  
  
Minako walked up and whispered something in Makoto's ear. Makoto blushed for a bit, then regained her composure. "Deal." She said, an evil smirk on her face.  
  
"Should we ask?" Ami said.  
  
"No," came the reply from both Minako and Makoto.  
  
"I see."  
  
"Alright then." Makoto said, stripping off her top to reveal the top half of a forest green bikini.  
  
"May the better girl win." Minako said, taking off her clothes.  
  
"Man, Minako, you had to wear the Chevy Nova Orange, didn't you?" Rei said, exaggeratedly shielding her eyes. "I'm blind! I'm blind!"  
  
"Oh, just use your ESP to guide you or something." Minako replied.  
  
"Who said that?" Rei said, squinting and putting her arms out in front of her, walking around unsteadily.  
  
At this point both Ami and Usagi were almost dying from laughter. "Please, stop," Usagi got out in between giggles. "or I'm gonna kill myself laughing!"  
  
"Alright, if it'll prevent our fearless leader from collapsing." Minako said dramatically.  
  
"Ready, Minako?" Makoto said.  
  
"Oh, I'm ready. Question is, are _you_ ready?"  
  
"I'm ready."  
  
"In that case, on your marks..." Ami started. "GO!"  
  
Both girls ran out into the water, then dove down. They broke the surface neck and neck as they both swam furiously for the boat.  
  
Makoto pulled out ahead at first, but Minako quickly caught up with Minako. They were almost at the boat--  
  
Makoto got a burst of speed from nowhere and swam ahead of Minako, getting to the boat first.  
  
Where Ami was sitting, typing casually on her minicomputer.  
  
"Ami?!" Makoto said breathlessly. "How'd you get here?"  
  
"Damn, you beat me and--Ami? What the--"  
  
"Created an ice sheet." Ami explained, not looking up from her typing. "I don't suppose I could win that bet you had."  
  
Both Minako and Makoto blushed. "Uh, Ami? I really don't think this specific bet's your style." Makoto said slowly.  
  
"Try me." Ami said.  
  
"Well...it was whoever won got the other for their own, er, amusement, for an hour or so."  
  
"If you word it like that, actually, I'm doing an experiment on body mass and endurance. So you two are perfect for that experiment."  
  
"I knew I was gonna lose." Minako said.  
  
"Then how come you made the bet?" Makoto said. "Actually, never mind that one. I think I already know _that_ answer."  
  
"Yeah. Need a hand up?" Ami asked.  
  
"Yes. Just out of curiosity, is that minicomputer waterproof?" Minako said with an evil grin on her face.  
  
"It is. Otherwise I wouldn't have tried to beat the two of you here. Why iaAAAHH!!" Ami said as she was pulled into the water by Minako.  
  
Minako and Makoto both laughed as Ami broke the surface, spluttering and coughing. "You alright?" Minako asked.  
  
"Before that, yes." Ami said. "And how, exactly, am I going to explain my being drenched?"  
  
"A bunch of evil kids with Super Soakers?" Makoto suggested as Ami climbed back into the boat.  
  
"I don't think so."  
  
"Hey, you could always pray for rain." Minako said, following Ami into the boat and helping Makoto up.  
  
"It was forcasting some light showers, so that may just work out. All I have to do is conviently 'forget' my umbrella, and all will be set."  
  
"Or maybe it's like on Star Trek." Minako said. "It's like holo-water or something. Doesn't carry over into the real world."  
  
"Maybe."  
  
Init.LineBreak  
  
End Init.LineBreak  
  
---  
  
_init.query  
  
_query.t0pic ("DigiPorting")  
  
_query.ask ("Does material from the DigiWorld carry over into   
  
the real world, ie if one gets wet do they stay wet   
  
after DigiPorting out?")  
  
query.resp0nse (Affirmative)  
  
_end Init.query  
  
Init.LineBreak  
  
End Init.LineBreak  
  
Output.Text ("Reload.txt", 260-294)  
  
---  
  
"I've never seen you competitive in anything other than academics." Usagi said.  
  
"Well, I'm not all brains." Ami said.  
  
"You certainly must be close." Minako said, rowing at a leisurely pace on the left side of the boat.  
  
"No, I've got about as much grey matter up here as you do, Minako." Ami said, rapping her head a couple of times to emphasize the point. "It's not the amount that counts, it's how you use it."  
  
"Isn't that a common motto for guys?" Makoto said, rowing on the right side of the boat.  
  
"It is for Mamo-chan." Usagi said, bringing a round of laughter from the group.  
  
"Ah, Mamorou. Where would we be without our faithful cannon fodder?" Rei said.  
  
"With a lot less laughs, I'll tell you that much." Makoto replied.  
  
"And probably dead fifty times over." Ami said. "You gotta hand it to him, the guy's got a knack for occupying a Youma's attention."  
  
"Oh yeah, like that's hard." Usagi said. "Those things have the equivalent of a goldfish brain. 'Hey look! A castle! ...Hey look! A castle! ...Hey--'"  
  
"We get the picture." Minako said.  
  
Init.LineBreak  
  
End Init.LineBreak  
  
---  
  
_init.digiw0r1dChange  
  
_change.0bject (rowb0at)  
  
_rem0ve (circ1e:w00d:b0tt0m (rowb0at):12cm(d))  
  
_end digiw0r1dChange  
  
Init.LineBreak  
  
End Init.LineBreak  
  
Output.Text ("Reload.txt", 295-*)  
  
---  
  
"...I don't think I'd keep a straight face!"  
  
"Yeah, it's like an injoke now, the whole rose thing." Makoto added.  
  
"...That's odd." Ami said.  
  
"What's odd?" Rei asked.  
  
"My minicomputer." Ami said. "I'm writing this little finding program, to keep track of my files and whatnot, and it just flashed the exact same set of data twice."  
  
"Maybe you put it in a counted loop or something?" Minako suggested.  
  
Everyone turned and looked at Minako. "What? It's a hobby." She said defensively.  
  
"Ooh, look out Ami, we've got another elite Haxor on our hands." Makoto said.  
  
"Nah. I'm not that good."  
  
"No, it's not in a loop by accident." Ami said. "I wonder what caused it?"  
  
"Uh-oh." Usagi said dramatically. "It's like in The Matrix. The world skipped...what changed?"  
  
"That changed." Rei said, pointing down.  
  
A large hole was in the bottom of the boat, and didn't actually allow water to go through until Rei pointed it out. Within seconds, the boat had sunk and the girls were swimming for shore.  
  
They all got there safely and walked out, all dripping wet. "First The Matrix, then the ACME law of physics: 'any aforementioned law stated does not go into effect unless the character notices it should go into effect.'" Minako said.  
  
"It's the Digiworld. I guess that's all we can say." Makoto said.  
  
"Yeah. I mean, that gaping hole was _not_ there when we started." Ami said. "So why did it just appear?"  
  
"Somehow I don't think we're going to find out the answer to that." Rei said.  
  
"Well, that's good." Ami said, typing on her minicomputer again. "We're on the beach Tai was on."  
  
"Then where is he?" Rei said.  
  
"I guess he went to look for us." Minako said. "So I guess we're going to have to wait here."  
  
Init.LineBreak  
  
End Init.LineBreak  
  
---  
  
_Init.Shutd0wn ("Digiw0r1d")  
  
///WARNING///  
  
DigiDestined ("Ami", "Mina", "Mako", "Rei", "Usagi") are sti11   
  
in the Digiw0r1d. If y0u shutd0wn, DigiDestined wi11 be  
  
de1eted. Pr0ceed?  
  
Confirmed.  
  
Shutting D0wn.........  
  
Init.Shutd0wn fai1ed.  
  
Err0r.1ast (900334525.e345, "File.Notcreated (UmiMori.fic)")  
  
Re10ad? Settings and DigiDestined wi11 be re10aded. _  
  
End init.Shutd0wn  
  
Init.LineBreak  
  
End Init.LineBreak  
  
---  
  
_Init.Signature  
  
_Print.Text (Chr (8), Chr (45), Chr (216), "Computer_Screen")  
  
_Output:" -Ø"  
  
_Proceed? _y  
  
_end Init.Signature 


End file.
